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Giovanni Pippistrelli in Florence, Italy

Latest News 2011

"La Strana Storia di Giovanni Pippistrelli, un Fiorentino Straordinario!"
The Italian language Premiere of a new work by Paul & Cassandra Einstein,

("The Amazing Story of Giovanni Pippistrelli, Bat Extraordinaire!)"

took place at Teatro Puccini in Florence, Italy, on April 21, 2011!


Above, members of the Quartetto d'Archi di Fiesole with Paul & Cassandra Einstein & Paolo Agnelli of the La Specola Museum.

Click on the video screen below to see a news report about the show Giovanni Pippistrelli at the Teatro Puccini in Florence:

About Giovanni Pippistrelli

Giovanni Pippistrelli is a musical event: It is a concert with a story, for children and adults. The concept and the text were written by Paul iEinstein. Delightful illustrations by artist, Cassandra iEinstein, are projected in vivid color on the big screen, as I tell the story in English, French, German or Italian.

Great music highlights dramatic moments in the story. The listener is treated to some of the world's finest moments in jazz and classical music.

There are selections by jazz and classical composers including Beethoven, Bach, Heitor Villa Lobos, Luiz Bonfa, Paul Desmond, Django Rheinhardt, Stephane Grapelli, Khatchaturian, Richard Strauss, Helmut Zacharias, Charles Trenet, and Camille Saint-Saens.

  

How Giovanni Pippistrelli Is Staged


There are three main ways that Giovanni Pippistrelli may be staged:

  1. With one narrator and fully pre-recorded music.
  2. With a narrator and live musicians.
    a
  3. It is ultimately suited for a full concert performance, as follows: The staging may include a string quartet to the viewer's left (stage right), a screen upstage above the narrator at center stage and a manouche (gypsy) jazz quartet on to the audience's right (stage left).

    4. Cost:
    Option #1 above requires a modest budget.
    Option #2 above requires a varying budget, and is larger than #1.
    Option #3 above requires a budget for 8 musicians and rehearsals.

    Note:
    Option #3 is ideally suited to a symphony orchestra's chamber music series, or summer pop series.


Who is  Giovanni Pippistrelli Bat Extraordinaire?







Giovanni Pippistrelli is a bat who loves art and music. He was born in Italy, 8½ kilometers from Florence.

"The History of Giovanni Pippistrelli, Bat Extraordinaire," tells of his early life, passionate love for Claudia, and his first brush with danger. It features Paul iEinstein as narrator of the startling string of events in Italy and Brazil which made him the world's first chiropteran art sleuth, Art Detective Pippistrelli.

Artist, Cassandra iEinstein has illustrated Pippistrelli's daring exploits.

Giovanni Pippistrelli is from Italy:

He began his life in Florence, where he lives today:

He is in love with Claudia:

He plays the violin. He's a detective, like Sherlock Holmes:

He travels from Italy to Brazil to solve an international art theft:


Email Giovanni Pippistrelli, Art Detective, at cmeinstein2@yahoo.com to arrange a performance.

Step into Giovanni Pippistrelli's office. Pack your bags, and follow him on his adventures...



Meet THE CREATOR(s)



Here now is some information, not about God, The Creator, but about artists, Cassandra iEinstein, the creator of the gorgeous illustrations, and the classical violinist Paul Michael iEinstein, author of Giovanni Pippistrelli's authorized biography.

PAUL MICHAEL iEINSTEIN PRESENTSe

In Original Illustrations by Artist, Cassandra Einstein

"The Amazing Story of Giovanni Pippistrelli, Bat Extraordinaire!"

A Live Event with a Screening of Original Illustrations by Artist, Cassandra Einstein
"Cassandra Einstein uses the poetic device of the synecdoche - letting a part represent the whole..." - Sheila Farr, The Seattle Weekly

ArtistiCassandraiEinsteini (www.cassandraeinstein.com) has had a distinguished career as a painter and film maker, specializing in handpainted animated films. Here feature film, "Tales," opened the Whitney Museum of American Art 1972 New Filmmakers Series, and was favorably reviewed by the New York Times, the Village Voice, The New York Post, and the Los Angeles Times. It was distributed by the New Line Cinema at the time. iCassandra is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and of a California Arts Council Award Grant. she has won awards in Brazil and the former Yugoslavia for her works. The above quote by current Seattle Times art critic Sheila Farr was written in the Seattle Weekly, reviewingiCassandraiEinstein's painting retrospective at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle:
"The knock-outs in her show are the pastel portraits and shoe drawings, Einsteine uses the poetic device of synecdoche - letting a part represent the whole - so that the shoes stand emblematic of their wearers. In the etching Walla Walla Shoe Size 8 - a big, black, sexy thing, looming ominously in its frame - Einsteini says she recalls the impression made on her by a gypsy girl seen at a park in Oslo, Norway." - Sheila Farr
ViolinistiPauliEinsteini (biographical photo album) is a multifaceted creative personality. To quote Carly Simon's hit song, "He's so vain that this site is all about him." Seriously, you need only peruse the links at the top and bottom of this page (follow Herr Mozart) to read about his (my) life in the arts and music.

Paul has adapted his popular "History of Giovanni Pippistrelli, Bat Extraordinaire" for live performance. Paul iEinstein will on arrangement also perform some selections for violin to further elucidate the story. Other musical material in the soundtrack include the music of Beethoven, Nicolo Paganini, Heiter Villa Lobos, Luiz Bonfa, Khatchaturian, Charles Trenet and Camille Saint Saens among others... Here now is a sample of Paul Einstein's playing with a short film.

Nota Bene: This film features Paul Michael iEinstein playing a selection by Debussy for Violin and Piano. The photos in this film are from past concert tours, not from the Giovanni Pippistrelli Events:

the worldwide leader in digital projection equipment is acting as a sponsor of performances in 2010 and 2011. Paul & Cassandra iEinstein wish to thank Epson for their support, which helped us prepare for the recent performance sponsored by the University of Prague for the International IBRC Scientific Congress, in the capital city of the Czech Republic, and for the 2011 performance at Teatro Puccini in Florence, Italy, sponsored by Coop Italia and La Museo di Storia Naturale, La Specola. ii

Giovanni Pippistrelli in Florence


Below, you will find more photos from the production in Florence, Italy. There are some informal photos from the rehearsal and a few publicity photos of Paul Einstein, taken by at the Specola Museum in Florence. The Italian production entitled "La Strana Storia di Giovanni Pippistrelli, un Fiorentino Straordinario," was produced at the Teatro Puccini and sponsored by il Museo della Specola (known in English as the "Museum of Natural History of Florence") in partnership with Coop Italia, one of Italy's largest and most popular businesses.

The Museum, La Specola, is the oldest public museum of science and natural history in the world. Parts of its amazing collection date back to the Medici family of Florence. La Specola Museum is housed in the Pitti Palace, accessing the world famous Boboli Gardens. It was founded in 1775 by Grand Duke Leopold II, a Hapsburg monarch who was Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary. Leopold II was a very interesting royal who advanced many ideas of the Enlightenment. La Specoloa Museum has a splendid scientific collection, and retains an 18th century display concept, which is most beautiful and fascinating.

Paolo Agnelli, a charming and brilliant scientist, who is one of the main curators of the museum - a director of several departments of the collection - invited Cassandra and me to Florence to perform Giovanni Pippistrelli. The performance was sponsored by La Specola in association with Coop Italia and the University of Florence. Coop Italia is a cooperative retail and supermarket chain with over 1500 outlets nationwide in Italy, and as part of its mission it participates in philanthropic ventures to promote social development, biodiversity, environmental sustainability, education, the arts and scientific research. In fact, Coop Italia is working in conjunction with Paolo Agnelli and the University of Florence to create and promote bat boxes, which will help provide "homes;" aiming to compensate for loss of bat habitat in urban environments. Our performance of Giovanni Pippistrelli was part of that effort as well, to promote education, biodiversity and survival of threatened species.

Special thanks must be given Dr. Giovanni Pratesi, President of the La Specola Museum as well as to curator-director, Paolo Agnelli. Warmest thanks are given to Alina Company and the Quartetto D'Archi di Fiesole for their superb musical performance. Thanks also must be given to photographer and journalist Silvia Amodio, who helped coordinate publicity, journalism and photography for the event. "Grazie mille," many, many thanks to Antonio Commerci of Coop Italia for his valuable work in assuring the success of the project. . Now, some more photos from the Giovanni Pippistrelli performance:


Paul narrates Giovanni Pippistrelli in Italian in Florence.
Alina Company and members of the Quartetto d'Archi di Fiesole gave a splendid performance.
"Ecce Pippistrello" on screen, as the cellist looks on and listens to the story.

Giovanni Pippistrelli hears music!
A String Quartet!
Giovanni & Claudia fly over Florence

Giovanni's heart is filled with music
Cassandra Einstein the illustrator of Giovanni Pippistrelli takes a bow with performers and sponsors at the show's end.
Dr. Giovanni Pratesi, President of the Natural History Museum of Florence gives a speech during the intermission. He is with Antonio Comerci of Coop Italia, who sponsored the performance.

Dr. Pratesi addresses the audience during the intermission.
The Teatro Puccini is on Piazza Puccini in Florence, Italy. It was built in art deco style in the 1930s.
A rehearsal of Giovanni Pippistrelli inside the Teatro Puccini in Florence. We are just setting up the projection and getting ready to position the musicians on the stage.

Here is Paul with Dr. Paolo Agnelli, curator of the Museo di Storia Naturale, La Specola of Florence. Paul is holding a dolphin skull from the collection.
Where does music come from? Do life forms become musical forms? We'll have to ask Giovanni Pippistrelli.
Paul playing the violin inside the Museum of Zoology and Natural History of Florence.

The entrance to the Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze, la Specola collection of Florence, which brought the show, "Giovanni Pippistrelli, un fiorentino straordinario" to Florence.
The Galileo memorial room in the museum of Natural History of Florence. It is called "La Tribuna di Galileo."
Paul looking out over the rooftops of Florence from the rooftop of the Museum of Natural History. An observatory was housed here in the 18th century.
UP NEXT!
March 2012 - Giovanni Pippistrelli Performance in Wuhan, CHINA.
Click on "8" for info on the Prague premiere of Giovanni Pippistrelli in 2010, and on page "9" below for info on our French children's show, also in 2010.


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