Avion Travel

Bio

Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel, knownas Avion Travel, was founded in Caserta in 1980 and during the years crossed rock, pop, and new wave with incursions in the cinematic hemisphere, theatre, and Italian musical tradition.

Avion Travel participated in the Sanremo Festival in 1987, winning the rock section with the song “Sorpassando”. In 1992 they released their first album Bellosguardo which, together with Opplà in the following year and Finalmente Fiori (1995), symbolized one of the cornerstones of the historic band’s music together with the beginning of their success. During these years, the Piccola Orchestra was formed by Peppe Servillo (vocals), Fausto Mesolella (guitar), Mario Tronco (keyboard), Mimì Ciaramella (drums), Ferruccio Spinetti (double bass), and Peppe D’Argenzio (sax).

From 1995 Avion Travel started a series of parallel projects which merged music, cinema, and theatre. The first one was La guerra vista dalla luna, a single-act musical play starring the famous Italian actor Fabrizio Bentivoglio. The play debuted at Teatro Parioli (Roma) in May 1995 and was then staged in major Italian and foreign cities.

After curating the soundtrack of the film Hotel Paura by Renato De Maria (1996), they embarked on national and international tour in the summer of 1997. From that tour was released their first live album, Vivo di Canzoni (1998).

That same year they participated in the forty-eighth edition of the Sanremo Festival with the song “Sleep and Dream” that won the Premio della critica e della giuria di qualità. The jury was chaired by English composer Michael Nyman who expressed great admiration for Avion Travel in an article for the Financial Times.

One year later, Avion Travel started an innovative project: together with producer Arto Lindsay, father of New York’s new wave, they produced Cyrano, in which they mixed the harmony and the voice of Peppe Servillo with Lindsay’s typical guitars and electric keyboards.

In 2000 they were once again on the Sanremo Festival’s stage, where they won with the song “Sentimento”.

Between 2003 and 2007, the Orchestra’s components engaged in individual experiences until returning together with a new formation: Peppe Servillo on vocals, Fausto Mesolella on guitar, Mimì Ciaramella on drums, Vittorio Remino on bass, and Flavio D’Ancona on keyboards. In 2009, Avion Travel published L’amico magico, a collection of compositions by Nino Rota revised with original arrangements.

Sadly, in 2017, Fausto Mesolella – historical guitarist of the group and prominent Italian musician, composer, and arranger – passed away, leaving behind a career rich in collaborations and awards.

In 2020, Avion Travel participated in La Musica dei Cieli festival, in collaboration with BeatMi. This was a special edition, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: eight international artists were asked to perform in places of worship or in theatres in Milan and Lombardy. Their exhibitions, however, were live streamed on the website of Corriere della Sera.

Avion Travel performed with their newest formation, composed by Peppe Servillo (vocals), Peppe D’Argenzio (sax), Flavio D’Ancona (keyboards), Duilio Galioto (piano and keyboards), Ferruccio Spinetti (double bass), and Mimì Ciaramella (drums).

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