Musicians - Paola Erdas

Born in Sardinia, Paola Erdas developed an early interest in the harpsichord. She was fascinated by the repertoire, but also by the marvellous sensation that playing the “plucked keyboard” gave to her hands and heart.

After obtaining her diploma in Venice, a grant allowed her to study for four years at the Mozarteum in Salzburg in Kenneth Gilbert's class. During these years Paola's love for the instrument and for musicological research increased, and she has developed a musical approach, in which the interest of research is never separated from lively and passionate performances.

In 1996, with recorder virtuoso Lorenzo Cavasanti, she founded the JANAS ensemble. Under her leadership the group, which was soon enlarged to become a multi-instrumental ensemble, has given public performances of programmes created with historical reconstruction, in the widest sense, very much in mind. The concerts are animated by a musical aesthetic, which never loses sight of the essential quality of the sound, and include music, poetry and dance from the Mediterranean in the late Renaissance and the Baroque, which are brought to life with an extraordinary vivacity.

Paola is particularly interested in the early harpsichord repertoire, and combines her performing activities with in-depth musicological studies, publishing with Ut Orpheus Edizioni (Perrine Pièces de Luth en Musique; Lebègue Première Livre).

Her solo CDs (Perrine, Libro de Cifra Nueva, Il Cembalo Intorno a Gesualdo, Pièces de Clavecin by Lebègue, Pièces en Manuscrits by D’Anglebert) have always received wide acclaim from international critics. They have been recorded on precious historical instruments, which help to achieve the ideal sonority and rare refinement of Paola's harpsichord playing.

In 2010, 500 years after the birth of Antonio de Cabezon, Paola Erdas announces two new releases dedicated to the Spanish genius: the CD La Tecla de l’Alma (Arcana) and the first volume of a complete edition of the Obras de Musica, which is being published by Ut Orpheus.

Besides her activities as a soloist and director of the Janas ensemble, Paola started a few years ago collaborating with the lute player Rolf Lislevand, in order to explore the connections between lute and harpsichord in the French repertoire.

Since 2008, with the Indian percussionist Shyamal Maitra, she has been exploring the possibilities of combining the timbre of harpsichord and tabla with a project, “A Night in Goa”, focused on Indian and Iberian music.

Paola has performed in prestigious international Festivals: Oude Muziek Utrecht; Festival Baroque de Pontoise; BOZAR, Brussels; AMUZ, Antwerp; Concerts Baroques de Paris, Philippe Maillard Productions; Semana Grande de Bilbao, Spain; Festival Europäische Kirchenmusik Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany; Grandezze e Meraviglie di Modena, Settimane Musicali dei Stresa and many others.

Paola Erdas greatly enjoys teaching as well as performing, and she is Professor of Harpsichord at the Conservatoire of Trieste, Italy.