Mauro Carra started studying the accordion when he was only 9 years old,
under the direction of Piero Barbieri. He continued his studies with
Learco Gianferrari, who introduced him to the Musette genre. Over the
years he has gained experience from the likes of many famous accordionists
including Bruno Aragosti, Paolo Gandolfi, Renato Benelli, Gigi Stock and
Carlo Venturi. His musical formulation as benefitted from participating in
masterclasses given by expert artists in their field such as Classical and
Musette expert Frederic Deschamps and of jazz maestros Renzo Ruggeri and
Richard Galliano.
He has worked with various Italian record labels on a total of five
albums to date. He is currently working on his sixth recording project,
which promises to be completely different to his previous work, more
harmonically sophisticated and stylistically more eclectic too. It will
include some pieces written by himself as well as music written by some
prominent Italian artists. It will also include some pieces written in
collaboration with Isacco Comandini under whose expert guidance he is
currently studying Jazz and Varietè.
His talent as a musician has led him to participate in many national
and international competitions, where he has proved to be an excellent
competitor achieving many first placings and abundant praise. He has
worked with many ensembles throughout the entertainment industry as well
as featuring in Accordion Festivals, both in Italy and abroad. At
International Accordion Week in 2000, he performed as soloist in the
Varietè category.
The following year he achieved enormous success at The London Accordion
Festival held at the Wembley Complex, both as a soloist and then with the
BBC Concert Orchestra in a special Gala Concert. In 2002 he continued his
symphonic experience in an important concert with the Symphonic Orchestra
of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna playing soundtracks from the films of
Charlie Chaplin. In the same year he was chosen to represent Italy at the
World Accordion Championships where he obtained sixth place. His busy
concert schedule has taken him all over Italy and abroad in France,
England, Spain and Germany and promises to take him further afield in the
future.
