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About us
Cora De Maria
Born into a renowned family of painters in Turin, including her grandfather Domenico Buratti, Cora has pursued a rich artistic and creative career. She studied music at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Turin and worked with the Teatro Regio in Turin for many years.
Alongside her work in music, she is an accomplished illustrator of children’s books, collaborating with publishers such as Gallucci and Salani.
Her passion for Eastern theatre led her to study Wayang Kulit, the traditional shadow theatre of Indonesia, in Ubud, Bali. She is a co-founder of Controluce Teatro d’Ombre, established with Alberto Jona and Jenaro Meléndrez. From its inception, she has been the designer and creator of the original silhouettes featured in the company’s productions.
Jenaro Meléndrez Chas
Originally from A Coruña, he graduated in biology from the University of Santiago de Compostela and, with a scholarship from the Japanese government, completed a master's degree at the University of Marine Science and Technology in Tokyo, where he lived for a few years in the late 80s before settling in Turin to devote himself to the arts.
From a "classic" proposal of abstract painting, he shifted towards a kind of "instant painting in motion" within the shadow theatre performances of the company he founded in 1994 with musicians Alberto Jona and Cora Demaria, Controluce Teatro d'Ombre, specialized since its inception in transforming classical music, opera, and contemporary compositions into evocative visual narratives.
With shadows collaboration in opera and live music productions he have had the occasion of working in places as Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Coccia di Novara, Teatro Principal de Santiago de Compostela, Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Landestheater Niederbayern in Passau and Landshut, Italian Culture Institute in Tokyo...
Between 1994 and 2018, he co-directed Incanti, the International Puppet Theatre Festival in Turin, alongside Alberto Jona.
Contact Information: He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Alberto Jona
Director, musician and musicologist, with an eclectic educational background spanning dance-theater, voice, musicology and drama. Alberto Jona began his theatrical training at a very young age with contemporary dance and dance-theater, pursuing studies in Italy, Great Britain and France. He then dedicated himself to singing, studying voice with Gabriella Ravazzi and Anne English Santucci, and specializing in the chamber repertoire with Dalton Baldwin, Gerard Souzay and Erik Werba. He has performed as a singer in Italy, France, Spain, Great Britain, Romania, the United States and South America.
He co-founded the Controluce Teatro d'Ombre Company alongside Corallina De Maria and Jenaro Meléndrez Chas, with whom he has staged shows at major festivals and theaters in Europe, Asia, North Africa and America, collaborating with musicians, conductors, directors and artists such as Kate Bush, Vinicio Capossela, Mario Brunello, Jordi Savall, Kenneth Weiss, Fabio Biondi and Davide Livermore.
He holds a degree in Musical Aesthetics from the University of Turin, and has published essays and studies on Mozart's theater and on early 20th-century musical theater. As both a performer and scholar of Jewish music and culture, he edited the Italian edition of the History of Jewish Music by Abraham Zvi Idelsohn for La Giuntina, Florence.
He teaches History of Musical Theater and Musical Dramaturgy at the Conservatorio Giorgio Ghedini in Cuneo, and Fundamentals of Musical Communication at the Università Cattoòica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.
He co-founded the Scuola Holden in Turin together with the writer Alessandro Baricco, and is the Artistic Director of Incanti International Puppetry Festival of Turin.