ARTISTIC DIRECTOR IMPETUS FLAMENCO ENSEMBLE
FLAMENCO GROUP Viterbo:

Master Andrea Mercati

Andrea earned a diploma in guitar from the O. Respighi State Music Conservatory. Parallel to his musical studies, he received a degree in the Conservatory of Fine Arts at the Viterbo University. He furthered his studies in classical guitar with Massimo Gasborroni, Giuliano Balestra, Carlo Barone and Abel Carlevaro. Later he specialized in flamenco guitar in Spain at the Fundation de Arte Flamenco Cristina Heeren of Seville, the Cetro de Cultura Andaluza of Jerez de la Frontera and the Universita di Cordova, und the direction of grand masters of flamenco like Manolo Sanlucar, Gerardo Núñez, Manolo Franco, Jose Rodriguez, Paco Serrano, Edoardo Rebollar and Manuel Lozano El Carbonero

He participated in a performance in the broadcast of Mediaset’s Grande Fratello.

For a number of years, he has engaged in intensive teaching activities in the provinces of Viterbo and Perugia, teaching at the Community School of Music at Bolsena, Marsciano, the Middle School ’P. Vanni’ and the Guitar Art Academy of Viterbo, of which he is the founder and director.

He is regularly invited to present seminars at academies and schools on flamenco guitar throughout Italy.

Besides he is the founder and director of group Impetus Flamenco Ensemble.

Laura Torricini:
From 1986 to 1989 Laura studied jazz dance with Sabina Cesaroni at S.A.D. in Florence
From 1989 to 1994 she studied flamenco and classical Spanish dance with Maestro Fernando Jose Hiram at the Florence Dance Center of Marga Nativo and Keith Ferrone.
In 1991 she began performing in theaters and shows. Among the more important shows, she performed in Bizet’s Carmen, directed by Zubin Metha (Teatro Comunale di Firenze), the Festival of Carthage (Tunisia), Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rustica (Florence), Rossini’s Nozze di Figaro (Siena), and Canciones Espanolas Antigas (Florence).At the same time, she furthered her training in flamenco dance with Ciro, Merche Esmeralda, Paco Fernandez, Eva Hierbabuena (Madrid, Sevilla, Jerez de la Frontiera, Cadiz).
In 1993 she performed frequently in Florence with Juan Ortega, first dancer in Cristina Hoyas’ company.
From 1994 to 1997 she studied flamenco dance with Maria Luisa Gomez.
From 1998 she has been active with theater group, 2 Parole, and has taught in Max Ballet in Florence.
Currently, she is working on the choreography of musical, theatrical and opera groups. She participates in the Spanish dance in the show Intarsio, a dialogue between three dances, flamenco, Arabic, and classical Indian.

Corinna Ruppert:
Corrina began her studies of violin in Frankfurt, Germany, continuing her studies at the Conservatori di Musica Statali in Perugia and Florence, where she graduated under the guidance of Maestro Luigi Gamberini.
She furthered her studies under the instruction of Camillo Grasso and Antonio Arciprete.
She participated in master classes with Felix Ayo, Ruggero Ricci, Bruno Canino and for baroque violin under Enrico Gatii.
As a very young woman, she participated ion the symphonic and chamber orchestras of I solisti di Francoforte and the Orchestra Giovanile di Assia.
She is a founding member of the Orchestra d; aarchi Symphoni Perusina, with which she has France, Libya, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Hungary, etc.
She has recorded with a variety of lables, Dynamic, Quadrivium, Octacorda, Nuova Eri, BMG, Edipan, Bongiovanni and Tactus

Impetus Flamenco Ensemble welcomes you to visit its website and in the City of Viterbo.