Scritto da : Maria Concetta Cefalu’

On July 6, 2024, Palermo violinist Giovanna Pia Ferrara, aka Jane Far, student of Maestro Diego Obiso, received the “Grand Prix Excellence SAINT-GERMAIN DES-PRÉS 2024 Paris” award at the Sorbonne University in Paris, organized by the Euromediterranean Academy with the motivation of “having spread international cultural projects abroad and in the world with her music, enhancing Italy and Sicily in the world”.

Prof.ssa Maestro Giovanna Pia Ferrara is Ambassador of women in the world for the arts and music for the States General of Women, and Artistic Director for music with responsibility for legality and social commitment, and international public relations officer for the Cultural Association Mondello Arte Expo and the International Award Mondello Arte Expo 2024. Maestro Ferrara performed in Paris, delighting and exciting with the notes of her violin the award winners and the public with her interpretative elegance and technical preparation.

The very prestigious award received the highest satisfaction with a letter signed by the President of the French Republic Emmanuel Macron, and his wife Brigitte and saw excellences from Sicily and the world awarded. In the past, awarded to famous people from the world of entertainment and culture, including Alviero Martini, the prize was organized by the founder and President of the Euro-Mediterranean Academy of Arts Prof. Maria Teresa Prestigiacomo, art critic, journalist and teacher, on the occasion of the Festival international des arts e des livres in Paris.

Professor Giovanna Pia Ferrara was awarded by Professor Giovanni Dotoli, Professor Emeritus of French Reading, President of the World Academy of Poetry and Ambassador of the Republic of Montmartre, the Honorary President of the Jury, Count Lawyer Maître Christophe Ghénassia, and Maestro Jean-Claude Fournier, Contemporary Painter of the family of the writer Alain Fournier. Maestro Ferrara in Paris for the occasion was the testimonial of the internationally renowned stylist Dr. Francesca Paternò of her brand “La Via della Seta” and wore a dress in pure gold made entirely by hand inspired by the Orient. Maestro Ferrara declared: “I am very happy to have moved all those present and participants with my violin, a unique emotion forever imprinted in my heart and soul in a place of culture of great illustrious minds founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbonne, a place of history, values, cohesion, brotherhood, synergy between art, music and literature. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Giovanna Pia Ferrara aka Jane Far
Jane Far is a composer, violin teacher, choir director, music teacher, expert and scholar of territorial music, musical multiculturalism, ethnomusicology, Byzantine and Oriental music. He attended the ten-year Violin study course at the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory of Palermo, now Alessandro Scarlatti, under the guidance of Maestro Andrea Licata, and then Maestro Diego Obiso. She obtained the Solfeggio License with Maestro Mauro Visconti, and the complementary piano license with Maestro Antonello Manco. She completed her ten-year musical studies and obtained the old system diploma in violin under the guidance of Maestro Diego Obiso. He is currently studying at the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Conservatory of Palermo to obtain her  fifth degree in Theories and Techniques in Music Therapy. She is the winner of numerous awards: “Women in all senses”, “Women who made it”, “Precious tile of the mosaic of the city of Palermo”, “Cettina Settineri Culture Award”, “Federico II Costa Normanna International Award”, and the prestigious International Career Award 2023 Talents and Professionals, organized by the Alessandro Costanza Foundation. Her musical composition entitled “Meridiem” chosen to represent the women of the world at Expo Dubai 2020 in the United Arab Emirates, received the praise and compliments of the Vice President of the European Commission Věra Jourová, the video “Meridiem” was awarded at the Cefalù FILM Festival in 2021.The violin she plays is a valuable 1860 one, built by a French violin maker in a Parisian atelier.

Maestro Diego Obiso
Maestro Diego Obiso began studying the violin at the age of seven with Maestro Aurelio Arcidiacono, continuing his studies at the Conservatory with Maestro Michele Guzzetta and with Prof. Giuseppina Trombone, and graduated in 1984 with top marks. Invited by Maestro Donato Renzetti, he participated in the “Jeunesses Musicales” Orchestra with some tours. From 1987 to 1993, he continued his studies in France, and attended the violin specialization courses held by the famous American violinist M° Aaron Rosand at the Conservatory of Nice, “Centre International de Formation Musicales”, and in 1995 at the Conservatory in Alkmaar, Holland, with Maestro Valery Klimov, a former student of David Oistrakh. He continued his studies with Maestro Giuseppe Prencipe for orchestral and First Violin violin technique and for the Chamber Music repertoire with Maestros Bruno Canino, Giacinto Caramia, Carlo Pozzi and Eliodoro Sollima, attending several specific lessons and courses. He is the winner of several National Violin Competitions and Competitions for orchestral roles, among others, at the Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo in Naples and the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana. He has collaborated with professional symphony orchestras and played under the direction of Hubert Soudant, David Machado, Pinchas Steinberg, Franz Welser Most, Alain Lombard, Peter Maag, Daniel Oren, Fruhbeck de Burgos, Aldo Ceccato, Victor Pablo Perez, Donato Renzetti, Gabriele Ferro and Ottavio Ziino. He has made several radio and television recordings on behalf of RAI, he has performed in Italy, Europe and the United States of America, both as a soloist and in various chamber and orchestral groups, covering the role of First Violin on many occasions. Since 1985 he has been a tenured violin professor at the Conservatory of Music “A. Scarlatti” formerly “V. Bellini” in Palermo, where he was a member of the Academic Council, Coordinator of Orchestral activities and Coordinator of Erasmus projects; he currently holds the position of Coordinator of Artistic activities of the same Institute and Coordinator of the Department of Bowed and Stringed Instruments.
The violin he plays is from 1995, built by the American luthier Kurt Widenhouse.