25.08 MOUNTAINS WITHOUT BORDERS, THE MUSIC OF THE LANDSCAPE

Lyrical coloratura soprano Anna Graf was born in Nal’chik (Russia) in 1991, where she began her musical education in piano, singing, and choral conducting. She has won numerous international vocal competitions, including the SOI Fiorenza Cedolins (2024, Udine), the 22nd C. A. Seghizzi International Chamber Vocal Music Competition (2025, Gorizia), where she was awarded the First Prize, and the 31st Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg International Singing Competition (2022). On this latter occasion, she performed the title role of Semele in J. A. Hasse’s La Semele o sia La richiesta fatale.
In 2025 she made her debut at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa as Semele in R. Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae and in the same year sang the role of Adele in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus at the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater in Schwerin. Her engagements have also taken her to Theater Aachen, where from 2019 to 2021 she performed leading roles as a member of the Young Artist Program — including Grilletta in Haydn’s Lo Speziale and Juno in Cavalli’s La Calisto. She has appeared as guest artist in the roles of Frasquita (Carmen) and Susel/Lieschen (Alpenkönig und Menschenfeind).
Her portrayal of the Controller in J. Dove’s contemporary opera Flight attracted great attention and critical acclaim. In 2024 she performed the role of Ortenzia in the first modern performance of D. Cimarosa’s Le Trame Deluse at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne.
Alongside her operatic career, she nurtures a special passion for Lied and chamber vocal music, regularly appearing in recital both in Germany and abroad. In 2023 she was awarded a scholarship by the Liedakademie “Lied Basel” in Basel, Switzerland. Her first CD, Fragmente einer Kindheit (Fragments of a Childhood), recorded in duo with pianist Han Lin Yun, was released in July 2022.
Her vocal training began at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, where she currently resides, under baritone Mario Hoff, obtaining both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with highest honors. She then continued her studies with Donatella Debolini at the “Luigi Cherubini” Conservatory in Florence. She is currently furthering her artistic development under Romana Noack

Eddi De Nadai, formerly répétiteur at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Staatsoper Hannover, Teatro Verdi in Trieste, the Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto, and Teatro Sociale in Trento, graduated in piano and harpsichord from the Venice Conservatory. He studied conducting with Romolo Gessi, Donato Renzetti, Lior Shambadal, and Deyan Pavlov.
He has served as korrepetitor and guest conductor at the Izmir Opera House and, since 2009, at the Bolshoi Theater in Tashkent. He maintains an active career collaborating with esteemed orchestras such as the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Città di Ferrara, Mitteleuropa Orchestra, Slovenian Radio and Television Orchestra, Córdoba Symphony, Orpheus Kammerorchester Wien, Bacău Philharmonic, Odessa Philharmonic, Kiev Strings Orchestra, Albanian Radio and Television Orchestra, and the Operas of Belgrade and Ljubljana, among others. He has directed an extensive symphonic and operatic repertoire in Italy and abroad, collaborating with renowned soloists including Bruno Canino, Rocco Filippini, Enrico Pieranunzi, Luciana D’Intino, and Katia Ricciarelli.
He is Artistic Director of the C. A. Seghizzi International Chamber Singing Competition in Gorizia, the International Festival of Sacred Music in Pordenone (now in its 34th edition), the Centro Iniziative Culturali Pordenone, and, for over two decades, of the Storica Società Operaia di Pordenone, where he has conceived and curated major cultural and musical projects and commissioned numerous works.
He is also the creator and Artistic Director of All’Opera, ragazzi!, a project promoting contemporary opera for young audiences (now in its 17th edition). In recent years, he has realized and conducted Il Vestito nuovo dell’Imperatore by Paolo Furlani, Arcibaldo Sonivari by Mario Pagotto, The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten, La Fuggitiva by Lucio Gregoretti, La notte di San Silvestro by Renato Miani, Il Mago di Oz and Il Piccolo Principe by Pierangelo Valtinoni, Racconto di Natale by Carlo Galante, and Cenerentola by Cristian Carrara.
A frequent collaborator of internationally renowned singers, he has performed for major institutions and festivals throughout Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Argentina, Mexico, and the United States.
Former piano professor at various Italian conservatories, he concluded his long academic career at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory in Milan.

Founded in 1969 to accompany the Choir of the Co-Cathedral, the Pordenone Chamber Orchestra initially focused on regional performances before expanding its activity to a broad symphonic repertoire and earning excellent acclaim from both audiences and critics in several Italian cities — including Venice (Basilica dei Frari and Biennale Musica), Treviso, Bolzano, Padua, Trieste, Turin, and Ferrara. The orchestra has also performed in Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia.
Its repertoire spans all eras — from Baroque to contemporary, from the Viennese Classical trio to the great Romantics, from early 20th-century works to recent fusions between classical and light music. In recent years, noted conductors such as W. Themel, E. Casazza, F. Belli, E. De Nadai, F. Krager, A. Ballista, L. Shambadal, F. M. Bressan, and I. Vlainić have led the ensemble. Distinguished soloists have included L. Degani, A. Nadin, S. Braconi, S. Piciri, O. Cristofori, G. Pellarin, M. Candotti, A. Oliva, F. Di Rosa, and A. Zucco.
In 2023, English conductor Ben Palmer — Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London and a specialist in film music conducting — was appointed Principal Conductor of the orchestra.
Among its many cultural projects developed with prominent partners, special mention goes to the Bach Cantatas cycle with the Coro del Friuli Venezia Giulia, its decade-long collaboration with the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Le Giornate del Cinema Muto), and the production of Bravo Bravissimo — a project supported by the Creative Europe program — in which the orchestra served as lead partner.
Since 2020, its Artistic Director has been Maestro Federico Lovato.