Tasting Donnafugata wines while José Rallo sings the lyrics. Bologna and Trieste are the new stops on the tour.

A new year and a new tour for the “Donnafugata Music & Wine Session,” a project that has grown out of José Rallo’s passion for music and wine of fine quality.

The tour gets under way on Thursday, February 12, at one of the Italian temples of good cheer, Cantina Bentivoglio,  which is considered one of the world’s.  top 100 Jazz Clubs. The troupe will move on to Trieste to play a double gig at the Casa della Musica: on February 14 for St. Valentine’s Day and on February 16.

The evenings’ program features an encounter between music and refined cuisine accompanied by the finest Donnafugata wines, explained and sung by José Rallo, a leading figure in the Sicilian wine sector. The refined sound of the jazz and the warmth of Brazilian music will supply the sound track of this voyage of discovery to an extraordinary Sicily that has the power to enchant the most demanding “vinonaut.”

“Facing the public in the double role of singer and wine producer always generates a new emotion,” says José Rallo. “Music and good wine are naturals as partners. Both touch the heart, stir strong feelings and have the power to evoke distant lands. A new way to talk about wine, food and music and to enjoy being together.”

The repertoire chosen is strongly influenced by the Brazilian music of Caetano Veloso, Djavan, Chico Buarque and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The program will feature the most significant samples of their music.  As guests savor Donnafugata’s elegant whites and rich, soft reds, they will bask in the sound of some previously unperformed excerpts of music composed by members of the band. The program will close with a tribute to Sicily by Chick Corea with texts by Pino Daniele to underline Donnafugata’s strong and vigorous link with this extraordinary, sun-drenched island.

“Donnafugata Music & Wine Session” will showcase José Rallo as singer along with her husband, Vincenzo  Favara, percussionist; harmonica player Giuseppe Milici; pianist Diego Spitaleri; Filippo Rizzo, bass player, and drummer Giampaolo Terranova. All are professional musicians who have collaborated with such famous artists as Toots Thielemans, Enrico Rava, Sara Jane Morris and Gino Paoli.

As a surprise tribute to jazz lovers, this Donnafugata “Donnafugata Music & Wine Session,” beginning in Bologna on February 12, will be recorded live on CD, which will be dedicated to all the fans who have already requested it.

Public Relations:

Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] tel. 0039 0923 7242267

Laura Ellwanger [email protected] te. 0039 0923 724258