Filippo Gambetta is an Italian multi instrumentalist (diatonic accordion and Brazilian bandolim) and composer. The music that he presents is innovative contemporary folk music with lots of different influences. Hailing from Genoa, in northern Italy, Filippo focuses on the composition of original music for the diatonic accordion and plays specific repertoires such as traditional Irish, French and Northern Italian music; he also collaborates with artists and bands whose musical visions overlook on universal music. In addition to the diatonic accordion, Filippo plays the Brazilian mandolin, focusing specifically on choro, instrumental music born in Rio in the early twentieth century. For the Italian record company Felmay Filippo released three albums: Pria Goaea (2002), Andirivieni (2009) and Stria (2000). The latter wins the first prize of the Greenage Festival (Collegno) and the second prize of the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival Competition (Finland). In 2015 Otto Baffi was released, a work focused on the two-row / eight bass accordion, containing 12 tracks, 22 guest musicians and self-produced. The album wins the national award Premio Città di Loano as “best Italian album” in the folk music field. The album has been broadcasted by ORF (AT), SRF (CH), RAI (I), YLE (FIN), BBC (UK) among others.
Filippos main musical project is currently the trio Maestrale with Sergio Caputo (violin) and Fabio Vernizzi (piano) proposing original music, addressed both to listening and to dancing audiences. The trio, active since summer 2017, has performed in several festivals within Italy and Switzerland including La Notte della Taranta, Heiden Festival, BorgoSonoro, Il Lago Cromatico, Etétrad, Zap Fest, Civitella Alfedena Folk Festival, Concerts in San Fruttuoso di Camogli, Folk Music Festival Forlimpopoli, Suq Genova, Solstizio d’Estate Festival, Suoni della Murgia, Lucerne Festival, Radicondoli Festival. With this line up was made the disc Circo Carnevale (2022 Visage Music records).
Maestrale released in 2018 its first album (Visage Music records) together with classical guitarist Carmelo Russo, member of the first lineup of the trio, who passed away in 2020. In duo with Carmelo Russo Filippo has performed in Denmark (Folk for Folk, Copenhagen Folk Club, Thorøhuse Forsamlingshus, Klaverfabrikken), Belgium (Rif Zans l’Fiesse, Dafodil Festival, Merode Festival, Westelfolk, Boombal Bornem) and Spain (Nazioarteko Trikitixa Jaialdia).
Emilyn Stam, Canadian violinist and pianist, is Filippo’s musical partner in a duo project active since 2016, which has seen the two musicians perform in important international reviews including the Vienna International Accordion Festival (Austria), the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival (Finland) and the City of Loano Award (Italy). They have also held concerts in Canada, touching important events including the Mission Folk Music Festival, the Harrison Festival of the Arts, the Vancouver Island Music Fest, the Carrefour Mondial de l’Accordéon and the Victoria Accordion Festival. In 2018 Shorelines was released, an album by the duo published by Borealis Records (Canada).
Active from 2002 till 2016, the Filippo Gambetta Trio, together with Claudio de Angeli (guitar) and Riccardo Barbera (double bass) toured extensively in some of the main international folk music festivals and venues. Here is a list of some of the major international festivals the trio has performed at: Folkest (IT), Le Grand Soufflet (FR), Brussels Folk Festival (BE), Edmonton Folk Festival (CN), Festival d’Eté de Quebec (CN), Calgary Folk Festival (CN), Vancouver Folk Festival (CN), Festival Vancouver (CN), Winnipeg Folk Music Festival (CN), Roots and blues Festival ( CN), Mission Folk Festival (CN), Sentieri Austici (IT), Aarhus Folk Festival (DK), Gong / Settembre Musica (IT), Etétrad (IT), Folk Festival Castelfidardo (IT), Harrison Festival of the Arts (CN), Vancouver Island Musicfest (CN), Halkaer Festival (DK), Trad.it Festival (NL), Radio3 inFestival (IT), Festival TousCouleurs (IT), Festival Les Nuits Basaltiques (FR), Nazioarteko Trikitixa Jaialdian (ES), Le Vie de l Suono (IT), Musicastrada Festival (IT), Skei Treffen Accordion Festival (NO), Festival del Mediterraneo (IT) .
As a composer and performer of original music for theater (prose and children’s theater) he has worked for: Teatro della Tosse, Genoa (Noi che semper navighiamo), Teatro dell’Archivolto, Genoa (Verso Macondo), Teatro Carlo Felice Montale Auditorium Genoa (Halloween!). He also composed original music for the Dance Theater company Ubidanza.
Liguriani was born in 2005 and its central focus is the reinterpretation of traditional and popular music from Liguria and the adjacent areas. This band has performed extensively in Italy and abroad. Here are some of the most prestigious European festivals the band performed at: Hohenloher Kultursommer (Germany), Rheingau Festival (Germany), Gong! / MITO (Turin), MITO Fringe (Milan), Celtic Connections (UK), Rudolstadt Folk Festival (Germany), Brandemburgishe Sommerkonzerten (Germany), Festa della Marineria (Italy), Festa della Zampogna (Scapoli), Ande Bali and Cante ( Rovigo), Mosel Musik Festival (Germany), Locarno Folk (Switzerland), Popular Music Festival (Forlimpopoli), Bardentreffen Nuremberg (Germany), Tolo de Asturies (Spain). The group also produced the CDs “Suoni dai mondi liguri” and “Stundai” for Felmay records.
With Riccardo Tesi and Simone Bottasso he was a member of the Triotonico project, a trio of diatonic accordions. They performed at Trad.it Festival (Holland), Etetrad (Italy), Itinerari Folk Estate (Italy), Laghi in Festa (Italy), Vernante Accordion Festival (Italy) and Radici (Italy). In the field of Irish music, it is worth mentioning the collaboration with the flutist Nuala Kennedy, in whose band Filippo played, among others, at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient (France), at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (Belfast, UK), at the festival Culture del Mondo (Cuneo) and Musicastrada Festival (Pisa). Together with her and Hamid Gribi, François Breugnot and Philippe Guidat, he has been part of the group Voyage de Nuit, performing in important festivals including Festival des Hautes Terres, Festival du Volcan de Montpeloux, Festival Eurofonik, Festival Les Automnales du Puy-de-Dôme, Festival Les Tradigordines, Festival du Haut-Livradois, Halkaer Festival. He has also collaborated with Jean Michel Veillon, Julien Biget and Kieran Fahy.
Filippo teaches accordion in the context of masterclasses and workshops in Italy and in Europe. Here are the main workshops that have seen him as a teacher: Trek er es Uut (Holland), Kalmthout Folkstage (Belgium), Sentieri Acustici (Italy, 4 editions), Stage de Borzée (Belgium), Suoni e Passi della Tradizione (Italy, 2 editions) ), Fürstenecker Folkwerkstatt (Germany), Stage for Etétrad Festival (Italy), Stage AKDT Neufchateau (Belgium), Stage for CDMDT 5 (Le Puy en Velais, France), Stage for CDMDT 43 (Rodez, France), Tolo de Asturias ( Langreo, Spain).
Filippo is the Bandolim player of the ChocoChoro trio, together with Fabrizio Forte (7-string guitar) and Marco Moro (flute), playing Brazilian instrumental choro music. The trio realized in 2014 a self produced album and performs extensively. Some of the festivals where the trio performed: Concerts at the Abbey of San Fruttuoso (Camogli), Spring Concerts at the Lutheran Church (Naples), Concerti d’Aqua Dolce (Stresa), Festival Le vie del Borgo (Dolcedo ), Biella Jazz Festival (Biella), Touscouleurs (Bordighera), Rassegna Giovedì Musicali (Savona), Concert Season at the Lutheran Church (Genoa), Italiana Festival (Cologne, Germany), Festival Solstizio d’Estate (Stazzema).
The new duo project Choropo, together with guitarist Alessandro Scotto, sees Filippo embracing both the accordion and the mandolin, in a program mainly dedicated to Brazilian and Venezuelan music with digressions towards musette and European folk music.