antonella ruggiero is the unforgettable and original voice of the matia bazar group to whom she gave her artistic name: matia. it’s with this group that she shared a long artistic career which began in the seventies. in october 1989 she decides to leave the group to meet her demands to requalify both her private as well as her artistic life. for a number of years she withdraws from public life, to dedicate her self to her family, to travelling, and to new musical experimenting. it’s during this long travelling that she awakens her passion for new ways of interpreting music: in india she comes upon sounds and atmospheres that fascinate, inspire and convince her to sing again and to offer new emotions/sensations to her public with her first solist album “libera” in january 1996 antonella ruggiero presents herself to the public as a renewed rich in interactions and musically experienced artist. the album is a combination of western and ancient otiental rhythms. her interests in new musical horizons played by young italian groups makes antonella and her producer, roberto colombo, produce"registrazioni moderne" (“modern recordings”) an album where the matia bazar songs are re-elaborated in a different musical contest. the album is released in october 1997, anticipated by a single “per un’ora d’amore” (with the participation of subsonica) and exemplifies the perfect union between musician of two different generations. 1998 is the year of “amore lontanissimo” with which antonella obtains second position in the san remo song festival. the year 1999 is started by “non ti dimentico” and gives her again the possibility to work as a soloist. the album is titled “sospesa” with two illustrious participations, maestro ennio morricone who puts his signature to “and will you love me” and giovanni lindo ferretti, who composes together with antonella and roberto colombo “di perle e inverni”. at the end of 2000, a tour of sacred music: twelve dates in fascinating and charming places: churches, cathedrals and ancient theatres. this experience was then set in a recording in november 2001 in “luna crescente (sacrarmonia). with the release of this fourth work as a solist, antonella takes up her tours again accompanied by the string quartet “arkè quartet and by the percussionist ivan ciccarelli. this repertoire took her around italy and the world where it gained great success by the public and the critics, allowing her to come into contact with different cultures and religions. after a series of concerts proposed in “classical” key and the more important among broadway musicals (gershhwin, porter, bernstein…) in october 2002, antonella ruggiero is the protagonist in “medea” at the “fenice di venezia” a video music in three acts, music by adriano guarnieri, one of the most significant contemporary living composers today. in 2003 antonella ruggiero returns to the pop world with “di un amore” and “l’aviatrice” dedicated to the first female aviator amelia earhart which is part of the album “antonella ruggiero”. in 2004 antonella ruggiero’s first live comes out with a cd/dvd called “sacrarmonia live (il viaggio)” which includes sacred songs of christian inspiration as well as various ethnic pieces from various parts of the world. in 2005 antonella ruggiero takes part in the san remo song festival with the song “echi d’infinito” winning the women category, followed by the release of the “big band” cd which contains pieces of latin american music and songs by song writers such as tenco, bindi e fidenco. in 2006 antonella ruggiero takes part of the event-show “l’abtitudine della luce” created by marco goldin as a presentation of a great impressionist exhibition. the tour covers the theatres of ten italian cities; antonella interprets eight unpublished pieces contained in the “l'abitudine della luce” cd. at the end of 2006, an entirely live album “stralunato recital live” recorded during her italian concerts dating from 2003 to 2006 is released containing 16 tracks, 6 of which previosly unpublished, in which antonella runs through, re-reads and re-invents, together with the best representatives of her repertoire, the most beautiful italian melodies (tenco, battisti) and international ones (monk, cesaria evora), passing from one period to another eliminating divisions of types and periods. in march 2007 “souvenir d’italie” is released, a documentation of a musical project that concentrates on italian songs composed from 1915 till 1945. here antonella is accompanied by four excellent jazz musicians: renzo ruggieri (accordion) paolo di sabatino (piano) massimo moriconi (double-bass) massimo manzi (drums). the album also contains the piece “canzone fra le guerre” which was presented at the sanremo song festival in 2007. in november 2007 the album “genova la superba” is released. in this album the genoese interpreter wants to pay tribute to the song writer of her natal city. such a lively and charming place could not but be the birth place of some of the most extraordinary songwriters and musician in italy. the pieces chosen by antonella ruggiero are reappraised with arrangements that unite experimental electronics with the unique sounds by the californian robert rich as well as natural sounds of the string instruments and the softness of the rhythm section made up of bass, guitar and drums. in october 2008, “pomodoro genetico” is released. In may 2009 antonella participates to the "cjanta vilotis" album. "I regali di natale" is released in november 2010, produced by roberto colombo. it comprises songs from both national and international christmas tradition. the repertoire ranges from the middle ages to the xx century with songs in italian, latin and one song in sardinian language (from italian region sardinia). the album was entirely recorded in studio with the exception of white christmas and stille nacht which were recorded live in 2009 in bethlehem and jerusalem.
