Giulia Vazzoler: "Per Elisa", Cross-Media Project

“Für Elise” is a cross-media project bringing together a solo piano album and a hybrid book, halfway between autobiographical memoir and an accessible exploration of music.

Each chapter of the book grows out of an encounter with a work from the piano repertoire, while each piece on the album serves as its musical counterpart, illuminating, commenting on, and providing a counterpoint to the narrative.

Together, they create an organic experience in which words, music, and biographical context reflect and enrich one another, creating a new and compelling synergy.

The Soundtrack of a Life: Acclaimed Pianist Giulia Vazzoler Publishes PER ELISA. Stories of Music and Frontiers

An internationally acclaimed pianist and conservatory professor committed to demystifying classical music by combining the rigour of tradition with a contemporary and accessible approach, Giulia Vazzoler makes her literary debut with PER ELISA. Stories of Music and Frontiers, published by Florestano Edizioni.

The book is part of a cross-media project that will also be released as an album (AlfaMusic), based on the idea that some emotions need a soundtrack in order to be fully expressed.

More than an essay on music for classical music enthusiasts, and more than a memoir, PER ELISA is a narrative in which each chapter emerges from the encounter between a piano composition — by Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Brahms or Bach — and a fragment of a life.

It all begins with Für Elise, the symbol of an absence that lies at the very beginning of the story: the loss of the author’s father when she was a child. From that wound unfolds a journey across both geographical and inner frontiers: war-torn Syria, the walls and checkpoints of Palestine, the cities of the Persian Gulf, Florida and West Africa.

“There is a time for interpretation and a time for revelation. Mine has come. PER ELISA is my personal manifesto, taking the ambitious form of a double debut, both as a recording artist and as an author.

It stems from a deeply held conviction: today, an artist can no longer hide behind their instrument,” the author explains.

“I have chosen to take music beyond its sacred spaces, not to diminish it, but to restore its original purpose: to be the soundtrack of life. This is why my music will resonate in hospitals, mingle with the sound of waves breaking on the shore, with the rustling of leaves in a forest and with the elegance of a boutique. Beauty should not be confined; it should be set free.

My training was a commitment to technical perfection, a total immersion in the score. It was a rigorous path that teaches absolute control, but also risks making us forget why we began in the first place: emotion. In our pursuit of the flawless note and historically informed performance practice, we have stopped speaking to people’s hearts.

And so, for the first time, I am the score.

PER ELISA contains everything: the hunger for the world that consumed me during my conservatory years, the journeys that pushed me beyond my limits, and the humanitarian missions that taught me the value of silence. But it also contains my vulnerabilities, my story, my family and my loves.

This is not simply a project about making music more accessible. It is an invitation to feel — an experience designed to reach us viscerally, without first asking permission from the mind.

Classical music has become a museum art: magnificent, untouchable and, all too often, lifeless. Mine will not be. PER ELISA is the first step towards restoring music to its true nature: a visceral experience rather than an intellectual exercise. I am not trying to ‘modernise’ a genre; I am proposing a new way of feeling it and experiencing it: my own. By taking classical music beyond its traditional boundaries, I am not trivialising it. On the contrary, I am restoring its universal power.”

Giulia Vazzoler is an internationally acclaimed pianist and conservatory professor with a clear mission: to demystify classical music by combining the rigour of tradition with a contemporary and accessible approach. Through her brand “The Italian Pianogirl,” she has become Italy’s most influential classical pianist on social media, demonstrating a remarkable ability to connect with a broad and diverse audience.

A multifaceted artist, Giulia’s career also encompasses her work as a TEDx speaker, music critic, radio host and television presenter. Her distinctive profile is further reflected in collaborations with prestigious luxury and fashion brands, where she skilfully combines artistic elegance with cultural depth.

Her concert career has taken her to stages throughout Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Africa. At the same time, a deep commitment to social causes, developed through experiences in challenging humanitarian contexts including refugee camps and war zones, has brought a unique sensitivity to her artistic identity.

After years of travelling, she chose to settle in the Riviera del Brenta. She writes for Musica magazine and hosts Al piano di Giulia on Televenezia. She is also a Veneto Creator for the Veneto Region.