Vivace Team

1. Benedetta Amelio: Founder and director of Vivace

2. Massimo Cialfi: Staff member for Vivace workshops

3. Silvia Clemenzi: Head of Marketing and Social Affairs

4. Francesca Brazzale: Teacher of Italiandó

Benedetta Amelio

Hello!

My name is Benedetta and I am an Italian mother, living in Vienna since 2014.
In Milan I studied musicology, singing and composition and here in Vienna I am finishing my doctoral research on Neapolitan opera of the 1700s.
The passion for music has been running through my veins for as long as I can remember, I breathed it in from a very young age in my family.
At the age of 10 I recorded my first songs and at 16 I started taking singing lessons, first modern, then opera.
During my university years I worked on the one hand as a singer for various private events, and on the other hand with children.
I came to Vienna as an Erasmus student...and stayed, building my family here with Philipp and my 3 children!

With the founding of Vivace, I also wanted to train in fields that were not strictly musical, attending courses in pediatric first aid, child neuropsychomotor skills and prevention of physical and psychological violence against minors and people in difficulty.

Vivace

In March 2022 I started working on a project: a basic music course for children, initially in Italian.
In October of the same year I started my courses ("Musica, maestro!") at the Italian Cultural Institute Società Dante Alighieri and the Italian Kindergarten "Girasole".
In January 2023 I officially founded Amelio Ltd with the aim of expanding the range of courses, both for children of different ages and in different languages.
In April 2023, "Spazio mamma-baby" (now "Crescendo") launched a series of gatherings for moms and babies where music is the focus.
In the summer of 2023 I started offering Activities such as excursions and workshops, in Italian and in German.
Finally, in September of the same year, will begin "Tempo, bitte!", the music course for children in German language.

In the summer of 2024, the first Vivace summer mini-course is offered and in September 2024, "Speil mit!", the music course in German designed for the little ones (1.5-2.5 years), will also arrive.

In the meantime, the range of workshops is expanding and several collaborations with Italian and Austrian institutions are born.

In the winter semester of 2024, more than 100 children are enrolled in Vivace courses.

Method

The method to teach that I use, starts from two points:

1) "Little observation and much reasoning lead to error; much observation and little reasoning lead to truth" (A. Carrel, Nobel Prize for medicine).

2) It is important to always tell children the truth, commensurate with their language.

As far as music is concerned, I start from an observation: it is a language for everyone.

On the basis of these assumptions, I began to experiment with a new method, which would merge a number of observations from established music pedagogies (Jaques-Dalcroze, Kodály, Orff), and at the same time be entertaining, captivating and current.

I started from what the term 'basic music education' means, from what pre-school children can and should learn in a music course.

I experimented a lot, checking which activities worked and which did not, continuing to study and asking myself questions.

I have achieved excellent results, so far leading more than 60 children to have fun and at the same time really learn the names and concepts of the specific musical language.

The course has a multi-year perspective, for the gradual achievement of the goals.

My students and I have made a lot of progress, and we still have a lot to do, learning grown-up things while having fun and at the same time, discovering a little piece of ourselves.

Attention to the parents

I am a mother of three children and I know that for a course experience to be positive, it must not only be so for the children, but also for the parents.
I therefore pay a lot of attention to the relationship with the families and to meeting their concrete needs.

Depending on what is best for the parents and the children, adults can either attend the class or wait outside the class.
Younger siblings (under one and a half years) are also well catered for in my classes, without having to pay an extra fee.
In front of the classes, there is an area with juice and water allways available and a changing table with nappies, wipes and changing mats.
I provide books, toys and drawing materials, both in case older or younger siblings have to wait until the end of class and in case students arrive a few minutes before class starts.
I have non-slip socks of different sizes with me, in case parents forget to bring them.
My classes are in places where it is possible to bring prams, bicycles, scooters.

At the end of the lessons, I send an e-mail with the syllabus and the materials used, so that parents can find out what was done in the lessons and, if necessary, propose music and exercises to the children during the week.
I am happy to have created an open and positive relationship with the families of my students, where comments and requests can be taken on board, with a commitment to meet each other.

Massimo Cialfi

The collaboration between Vivace and Maestro Cialfi began in September 2023.

From January 2024, we will also be offering various workshops in kindergartens and schools.

Diploma in classical trombone at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan.

Massimo Cialfi also continued his composition studies for the classical trombone and passed the final examination of the Master's programme in Contemporary Music.

He also completed a two-year preparatory course in musicology at the Milan Conservatory.

He graduated from the Koninkljnk Conservatorium in The Hague (Netherlands) with a baroque trombone diploma and completed postgraduate studies in medieval and Renaissance music at the Schola Cantorum in Basel (Switzerland).

Massimo Cialfi is officially authorised by the state to teach music education at secondary and higher schools. He has been a state-authorised teacher of music education for lower secondary schools since 1984.

He has worked as a trombonist with the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the "Orchestra regionale della Lombardia", "dei Pomeriggi musicali" and the RSI Orchestra in Lugano.

He was able to broaden his horizon in stage music with the Piccolo Teatro in Milan under the direction of G. Strehler ("Faust" First and Second Part) and with G. Tofano ("The Comedy of the Jews at the Court of Mantua") and with M. Ovadia in "Golem".

As a trombonist, he has also dedicated himself to the areas of jazz swing (New Forties Big Band) and jazz Dixieland (Savanna Serenades). He has also developed his skills in ethnic music, dedicating himself to the diatonic accordion (Italian button accordion), hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes (French musette), zampogna a paro e chiave (southern Italian bagpipes with two melodic pipes-chanter) and tuba (helicon).

Massimo Cialfi has tackled the study of the preservation and practice of Renaissance and Baroque dances from both a musical and choreographic point of view. To this end, he undertook internships in specialised training (with the dancers and choreographers A. Francalanci, F. Lancelot, D. Colonna). He has collaborated with several groups specialising in ancient dance (under the direction of F.Sapapani, M.Padovan and B.Cristini, among others).

He has also participated in numerous concert, radio and disc productions with important musicians and conductors such as G. Savall, N. Rogers, G. Garrido, K. Junghänel, G. Antonini, D. Fasolis, O. Dantone, G. Acciai, M. Mencoboni, R. Alessandrini, C. Toet, B. Torton and B. Bagby.

He was the founder of the renaissance music group "Theatrum instrumentorum Milano" and works constantly as a percussionist and salpinx player (the straight trumpet of the ancient Greeks), with the revival group for music of ancient Greece "Melpomene" under the direction of K.Steinmann.

He currently leads the medieval and renaissance music group "Alta Musicae".

He can look back on a long career as a concert trumpeter, as a trombonist (alto, tenor and bass) in the baroque and renaissance repertoire, the slide trumpet for the medieval repertoire and the ophicleide for classical and romantic music.

For several years he has also played hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, accordion and tuba (helicon).

In recent years he has devoted himself to in-depth studies of ancient and popular percussion instruments (medieval castanets, cymbals, frame drums) and has taken part in training seminars with G. Veles, M. Metzler, A. Pani and Madjid Khaladj.

He was artistic advisor and collaborated with various musical formations (including the group for ancient dances "Contrappasso Nuovo" in Florence, the instrumental group "Les Cornets Noirs" from Basel (Switzerland), the ensemble "Seicento Novecento" from Rome, the vocal-instrumental group "Orientis Partibus" from Assisi), Concerto Stella Matutina (Vorarlberg-Austria). He emphasised the continuation of his research and dissemination activities in the field of early music practice with the Renaissance and Baroque trombone.

In 2007 he taught a master's programme for early trombone at the Conservatorio "G. Verdi" in Turin.

Since 1990 he has been involved in antique organ studies and offers the rental of several organ positives throughout Europe (one in Renaissance style with 2 stops, one in early Baroque style "ad ala" with 4 stops, one in late Baroque style, a chest organ with 3 stops, a chest organ with tower of 5 stops), which gives him many years of specialised experience in basso continuo practice as well as in the study of the problems of historical tuning.

In 2012 he was appointed professor of experimental Renaissance and Baroque trombone at the Conservatorio di Musica "V. Bellini" in Palermo, and from 2012/13 until the 2016/17 academic year he was a lecturer in Renaissance and Baroque trombone at the same conservatory.

In May 2016, he married Iris Ebner-Cialfi in Milan and took up residence in Vienna, Austria, where their son Aurelio Ebner-Cialfi was born in September of the same year, completing the small family.

Silvia Clemenzi

Silvia and Benedetta first met as PhD students and then became friends. It was Silvia who persuaded Benedetta to start the music course project. After taking part in several Vivace courses as a mother, she has been working as a marketing and social manager at Vivace since July 2024.

Hello, my name is Silvia. I was born in Rome and grew up in Vienna. I have been travelling between the two metropolises and cultures from an early age. Languages and different ways of expressing myself have always fascinated me. So it's hardly surprising that I channelled my interest and curiosity into my studies and studied linguistics. I am currently deepening my knowledge with a doctorate at the University of Vienna. I got to know Benedetta through my research work. For me, music, like language, is a form of expression. If you like, a polyphonic or international language with messages and intentions. It's wonderful to watch children playfully engage with music and see their spirit of discovery grow. Since mid-July I have been supporting Vivace graphically as well as in the area of social media.

Francesca Brazzale

Benedetta and Francesca met in Vienna in the summer of 2023. A friendship was born and questions about the challenges of working as a teacher were shared. Francesca begins to participate in the Vivace family, first as a mother in the Crescendo course and then, from February 2025, as a teacher for the Italiandò course.

My name is Francesca, I come from Varese (Italy), and I have been living in Vienna for almost two years with my husband Paul and my daughter Ester.

During my studies in Philosophy, my passion for education met the world of special educational needs. I decided to deepen this topic by taking a course as a Tutor for Special Educational Needs and Specific Learning Disabilities. After completing my studies, I moved to Belgium and started working as a support educator at the European School of Brussels in the kindergarten. For about two years, I have been living in Vienna, where I

also worked as a support educator at an International Primary School. Over the years, I have taken further training courses, particularly focusing on autism spectrum disorders and ADHD.

I like this job because it offers the opportunity to diverge from the beaten path and follow an "off-track" deviation: a path shaped by the unexpected, often harder but definitely enjoyable! I enjoy inventing games and stories, building creative tools with my hands that engage the child through all five senses (such as puppets or costumes).

Over time, I have realized that this so-called ‘special education’ is beneficial for all children. In my years of work experience, I have identified the most significant pillars that guide my method, which I can summarize as follows:

 - Education is, first and foremost, a relationship

 - Play is a serious matter

 - Everything can be learned from

Starting from February 2025, I am excited to collaborate with Vivace by offering the course Italiandò, a creative Italian course aimed at primary school children, designed with care for bilingual children.