Konnakkol Italia is founded in 2020 by Omar Cecchi and Dagmar Bathmann, with the support of Vidwan B.R. Somashekar Jois, as Italian ambassador of World Konnakkol Academy (India).
Konnakkol Italia aims to carry on and spread the knowledge of the language of Konnakkol and musical Rhythm integrating three different perspectives:
– the study of Konnakkol in its traditional form, as per curriculum of WKA;
– applications of Konnakkol in different contexts (interpretation, improvisation, composition, musical pedadogy, drumset and percussion)
– a broader, ethnomusicological, research on Rhythm and Time.
These researches create a unique pedagogical methodology, that integrates concepts derived from Western music and Konnakkol – through methods and tools from ethnomusicology, mathematics and psychology of perception.
Thanks to its scientific, profound and intuitive methodology, Konnakkol is a unique tool in the domain of rhythm, which can broaden our perspectives on music and enrich our musical language.
To find out more about our educational offer, please refer to this page.
Omar Cecchi
Percussionist, Drummer, Teacher
Disciple of Vidwan B.R. Somashekar Jois (Konnakkol).
Disciple of Vidwan Dr. Patri Satish Kumar (Mridangam).
Studies
Born in Pistoia (Tuscany, Italy) in 1988, since early age he appreciates music as a unique journey of research and sharing with others.
In 2013 he obtained the Diploma in Percussion Instruments, Cum Laudae and honors.
He studied at the Conservatory “L. Cherubini” of Florence (Italy) and at the Haute École de Musique de Genève (Switzerland).
He studied Mathematics at the University of Florence.
He feels a particular passion for contemporary Western music and extra-European cultures – in quest of musical archetypes, to the roots of the musical phenomenon.
In 2012, he began studying Indian Rhythm and its applications to Western music and drumset, with Claude Gastaldin.
Between 2010 and 2015 he deepened the study of Percussion and Orchestral repertoire with Lorenzo D’Attoma (Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Gregory Lecoeur (Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino), Andrea Santarsiere (Orchestra della Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia), Claudio Romano (Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI).
In 2013-2014 he attends the advanced training course in “Timpani and orchestral repertoire” in Rome, with Antonio Catone (Orchestra della Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia).
Between 2007 and 2012 he studies Ghana Drumming with Master drummer Ruben Agbeli and Brazilian percussion with Gilson Silveira.
In 2015-2019 he studies Drumset with Alfredo Golino (Pop Drumming) and Pier Paolo Ferroni (Gary Chaffee Method).
During the years, he attended many different masterclass e workshop, with Artits and Scholars such as: Ney Rosauro, Peter Sadlo, David Friedman, Dave Samuels, Pier Giuseppe Gajoni, Christopher S. Lamb, Roberto Gualdi, Benny Greb, Peter Giger, Philippe Hurel, Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, Anindo Chatterjee, Mysore Manjunath, Bangalore Amrit, Anoor AnantaKrishna, Sukkanya Ramgopal, B.C. Manjunath, Arun Kumar, Trilok Gurtu, Ernani Maletta, Chandana Bala Kalyan, Patri Satish Kumar, Abishek Raghuram, Francesca della Monica.
He is currently continuing its researches with Claude Gastaldin.
He studies Konnakkol with Vidwan B.R. Somashekar Jois (Bangalore, India).
He studies Mridangan with Vidwan Dr. Patri Satish Kumar (Chennai, India).
He travels regularly to India for studying.
Since 2018 he practices Alexander Technique.
Musical activity
As a musician his activity focuses mainly on Contemporary music, in the research of new languages, always attentive to history of music and his development in different historical contexts.
He is the co-founder of various groups dedicated to research and contemporary music:
- DUOroboros (duo cello-voice e percussions-drumset), with Dagmar Bathmann. The duo is devoted essentially to contemporary music and improvisation, collaborating with composers from all over the world.
- NAOM, duo with the vibraphonist Nazareno Caputo, that integrates elements from contemporary music, improvisation and Konnakkol in original compositions.
- Ensemble degli Intrigati, is a modular ensemble specialized in contemporary music, stable ensemble of Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano. Winner of international competions for contemporary music: Rheinsberger Residenzensemble für neue Musik 2021/22 (Germany), Festival Atemporanea 2022 (Argentina).
He is the percussionist of Contemporary music ensemble GAMO (Gruppo Aperto Musica Oggi), with which he recorded several CD’s.
He regularly plays with various orchestras and chamber groups (Orchestra del festival Pucciniano, Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato, Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina, Orchestra Milano Classica…).
Since 2014 he works with the Theatre Company Lombardi-Tiezzi as a musical supervisor and musician, working with actors such as Sandro Lombardi, David Riondino, Anna Meacci, Lucrezia Guidone.
He played several world premieres of compositions dedicated to his ensembles.
He has worked with composers and directors such as: Marco Angius, Carlo Boccadoro, Roland Böer, Lorenzo Cadario, Detlev Glanert, Pierre Hantaï, Jan Latham-Koenig, Andrea Molino, Ari-Ben Shabetai, Edgar Warren Williams, Jonathan Webb.
He played in several theaters and festivals: Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Teatro Stabile di Torino, Teatro India (Roma), RAI Radio3 (Roma), Teatro Verdi (Pordenone), Aurum (Pescara), Villa Torlonia (Roma), Auditorium di Santo Stefano al Ponte Vecchio (Firenze), Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, Schlosstheater Rheinsberg (Germany), Teatro dell’Opera di Firenze, Istituto di cultura italiana di Bruxelles (Belgium).
Teaching
He is the ambassador in Italy of World Konnakkol Academy for the Art of Konnakkol.
His pedagogy integrates in a systematic methodology researches and experiences in different musical fields (classical, contemporary, improvisational, Indian), in mathematics and humanities.
The musical, instrumental and personal paths are here inextricably linked with the essential aim to open culturally and historically founded and aware perspectives – creating tools for the development, espression and dialogue through music.
Since 2013 he teaches Drumset, Percussion and Konnakkol in colleges, high schools and private schools.
He is visiting professor at the CPM Music Institute in Milano.
He holds seminars all around Italy and Online.
Dagmar Bathmann
Cellist, Singer, Teacher
Disciple of Vid. Tejaswini M.K.
https://www.studio-dagmar.com
Dagmar Bathmann, born in 1986 in Germany, is a Cellist, Singer and Teacher.
She studies Violoncello and Pedagogy at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold (Germany) and at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne – site de Sion (Switzerland) with Marcio Carneiro and Alexander Gebert, and gets the Diploma in 2013.
He perfects itself at Masterclass by Enrico Dindo, Karine Georgian, Frans Helmerson, Wolfgang Boettcher and Steven Isserlis.
In 2013-2015 she is the First Cello of Orchestra dell’Accademia Teatro alla Scala Milano.
She works with conductors such as: Fabio Luisi, Susanna Mälkki, Lawrence Foster, Massimo Murrali, Stefano Ranzani, Massimo Zanetti, David Coleman, Min Chung, Roland Böer, Federico Maria Sardelli e Christoph Eschenbach – performing at Teatro alla Scala Milano, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania, Teatro dal Verme di Milano, Royal Opera House di Muscat (Oman) and the Festival at Bad Kissingen (Germany) and Ravello.
In 2015 she performs with the Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by Marco Armiliato, with soloists Diana Damrau, Francesco Meli, Simone Piazzola, Maria Luigia Borsi and Lang Lang.
In 2016-2017 she works with Ensemble G. Bernasconi (Accademia Teatro alla Scala di Milano), performing with Antonio Ballista, Min Chung and Renato Rivolta.
As a chamber musician she performs Festival Pontino di Musica, at Longlake Festival Lugano, at Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte Montepulciano and at Festival Musica Prospettiva Torrita di Siena.
She is a member of Ensemble degli Intrigati, permanent contemporary chamber group at Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte di Montepulciano, performing at Montepulciano, Fondazione Ivan Bruschi (Arezzo), Teatro del Maggio Musicale (Firenze), Istituto Italiano di Cultura (Bruxelles).
In 2016, thanks to her interest for theater and connections between arts she is at Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato di Milano, establishing a long collaboration with Theater company Lombardi-Tiezzi.
She performs with this same company at RAI Radio 3, Villa Torlonia (Roma), Teatro India di Roma, Teatro Franco Parenti (Milano), Teatro Verdi di Pordenone, Aurum (Pescara) and many others.
With the theater company Compagnia Teatro d’Imbarco she performs at Festival Miti Contemporanei Reggio Calabria, Lunatico Festival Trieste and at Festival Radicondoli Arte.
She performs with actors such as Sandro Lombardi, Lucrezia Guidone, Martino d’Amico and Ugo Pagliai.
She attends masterclass by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre and Jens Roth.
In 2013, following her passion for singing, she begins, with Susanne Eisch (Germany), the study of the “Funktionale Stimmpädagogik und funktionales Stimmtraining” created by Dr. Eugen Rabine.
She explores the combination of the voice with the violoncello, playing and singing at the same time.
WithDUOroboros she reinterprets and arranges classical pieces and devotes to the research of new musical languages. Composers that have written for the duo are Edgar Warren Williams, Ari Ben-Shabetai, Satoru Ikeda, Matteo Belli, Giovanni Vannoni and Valerio Rossi.
She regularly performs with Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi, Orchestra La Filharmonie and Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina.
Insegna violoncello presso l’Accademia Musicale di Firenze e la Scuola di Musica Artes Prato ed è docente privata di canto a Pistoia.
She studies Carnatic Singing with Vidushi Smt. Tejaswini M.K. (India), attending Masterclasses on Indian Music and Rhythmic by Ned McGowan, Claude Gastaldin, Vid. Dr. Mysore Manjunath, Vidwan B.C. Manjunath, Vidwan Somashekar Jois.
Quand on veut étudier les hommes il faut regarder près de soi;
mais pour étudier l’homme il faut apprendre à porter sa vue au loin;
il faut d’abord observer les différences pour découvrir les propriétés.
(Rousseau, Essai sur l’origine des langues, VIII)