Arianna Bergamaschi, known as Arianna, is an Italian singer, actress and performer, who has started to succeed since very young as an Italian official voice Disney and interpreter of numerous musical and television projects. Over the years he has developed an international career collaborating with artists such as Pitbull, Shaggy, Flo Rida, Giorgio Moroder. In parallel to the record and theatrical path, she performed in world-class events, from the Vatican to international productions and North American tours.
You grew up in a family very close to the world of show: how much this influenced your desire to work on television and how much, instead, did you feel the need to build an autonomous path?
“The influence of my family was certainly there, especially from my mother. My family is full of musicians. But the desire to be autonomous came almost immediately. At first, perhaps because of fear of confrontation, I was not even so convinced that I wanted to be a singer: I thought rather about dancing. Then, thanks to the experience with Disney, I realized that the music could really be my path and not something temporary. Being able to build my identity took time. I still listen to my mother’s advice today, especially on interpretation”.
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Looking at your beginnings, what was the first time you thought: Okay, this isn’t a game anymore, is it really my job?
“Very soon. I started working practically as a newborn: I was advertising seven months ago. Perhaps the real awareness came later, around 20 years, when I finally started managing my money independently. There I tried a great euphoria: you think you are independent, but then rents, expenses and responsibility arrive”.
You started very young in the entertainment world. Have you ever weighed?
“There were times when maybe I saw my friends playing outside while I had to study a song or prepare myself, but the desire to be on stage has always been stronger than anything. I remember that at three years I literally escaped from my mother’s arms to run on stage. It was something totally instinctive, almost uncontrollable. That is why I believe that joy has always overcome any renunciations.”.
You started very young on television. Is there anything that surprises you today?
“The television has very different times than the theatre. I am still surprised how little time is given to prepare an exhibition: you have to get ready already, because the tests are very few and everything happens very quickly. The TV chews and returns content at an impressive speed. It is a very demanding means precisely for this”.
What do you think about the evolution of streaming, new platforms and social entertainment?
“I like platforms very much. Social media, on the other hand, have positive and negative aspects. On the one hand they give immediate access to so many information and allow talents to emerge faster, without very long paths. On the other hand, however, they often give the illusion that you just have visibility to be artists. This is where the risk arises: to think that followers replace the study. In reality a career requires constant work”.
Do you feel more actress, singer or performer today? Or do these categories look superfluous to you?
«Performer is the definition that represents me best, because it encloses everything. I’m not interested in just one label. What I prefer is to interpret. That this step through singing, dancing or acting changes little: what counts is to communicate something and to excite who looks».
Is there a character who left something on you outside the set or the stage?
« Certainly Bernardina in Masaniello. To interpret a Neapolitan from Milan, I studied six months. I had to make the Neapolitan fish in a company of forty people, almost all of Naples: when I knew that the protagonist was Milanese, many were skeptical. This prompted me to immerse myself completely in the Neapolitan culture, which I already loved deeply. It was a very intense experience even on a personal level: at that time my father was very ill and I lived continuously between Naples and Milan. Playing that role was a real catastrophe. He helped me develop a huge pain.”.
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What prompted you to leave Italy to move to the United States?
“At first it had to be just a house for the future then Covid arrived and completely changed the plans. My husband understood that we could live anywhere and proposed to move to a seaside town, even for our son suffering from asthma. For me it was a shock, because all my life and my career were in Italy. It was a family choice, but at first I lived it as a forcing. In time, however, I realized that this experience was making me grow. He forced me to reinvent myself and create something that kept me tied to my culture. From here is born Italiani Veri”.
How much did this transfer affect the birth of the show?
“Very much. Every morning I was working on the show, Italian Veri, which is thought for an American audience. For this reason I had to look at my country almost with an external look. Many things for us Italians are discounted, for an international audience are not at all. It was a very interesting exercise and a great artistic challenge”.
What are you working on right now?
«I’m working on Italiani Veri – The Show. The first date was October 2 in Toronto, in a tour supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Italian Institutes of Culture, which recognized the project a cultural value. After Toronto there were Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. Subsequently, a collaboration with Fever began, thanks to which new dates such as Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco were born. In San Francisco we immediately recorded the sold out of the first date and scheduled a second replica. Finally, among the news there is also the recent release of the cover of the famous song That’s Love”.
What’s the effect of this in the United States?
“It’s a beautiful surprise. Not being my country, you never assume that someone buys a ticket to see your one woman show of an hour and a half. I was very afraid, also because here the level of entertainment is very high. But I’m getting very positive feedback and I feel really appreciated.”.
If I could define this phase of your life with one word, what would it be?
“Entusiasmante. I feel at a particularly flourishing moment, both as an artist and as a person”.
L’articolo Arianna Bergamaschi: “Transfer me to the USA forced me to reinvent myself” comes from IlNewyorkese.
