Vivace Team

1. Benedetta Amelio: Founder and director of Vivace

2. Massimo Cialfi: Staff member for Vivace workshops

3. Silvia Clemenzi: Head of Marketing and Social Affairs

4. Valentina Policastrese: Staff member for Vivace workshops

5. Silvia Vena / Dario Scaturro: Staff member for Vivace workshops

Benedetta Amelio

Hello!

My name is Benedetta and I am an Italian mother of four children who has been living in Vienna since 2014.

I studied musicology, singing and composition in Milan and am currently completing my doctoral thesis on Neapolitan opera around 1700 in Vienna.

My passion for music was instilled in me from an early age; I breathed it in from my family.

I recorded my first songs at the age of ten, and at sixteen I began taking singing lessons, first for modern music, then for opera.

During my studies, I worked as a singer for various private events and also with children.

As a music-loving mother, I searched for a long time in Vienna for a music course for my children that would offer them fun and entertainment on the one hand, but also the opportunity to learn something beyond a few new songs on the other.

After a long search, I couldn't find what I was looking for, so in the spring of 2022, I decided to offer my own music courses for children.

With the founding of Vivace, I also wanted to train in areas that were not purely musical, by attending courses in paediatric first aid, neuropsychomotor skills in children, prevention of physical and psychological violence against minors and people in difficulty, and music therapy.

Vivace

In March 2022, I started working on a project: a basic music course for children, initially in Italian.

In October of the same year, I launched my courses (‘Musica, maestro!’) at the Dante Alighieri Society and the Italian nursery school ‘Girasole’.

In January 2023, I officially founded Amelio GmbH with the aim of expanding the educational offering, both for children of different age groups and in different languages.

In April 2023, ‘Spazio mamma-baby’ (now ‘Crescendo’) was launched, a series of music-focused meetings for mothers and children.

In the summer of 2023, I began offering activities such as trips and workshops, both in Italian and German.

In September of the same year, “Tempo, bitte!”, a music course for children in German, was finally launched.

In the summer of 2024, the first Vivace mini summer course was offered, and in September 2024, “Speil mit!”, a music course in German for toddlers (1.5-2.5 years old), was also launched.

In the meantime, the educational offering has been expanded and various collaborations with Italian and Austrian institutions have been initiated.

In February 2025, a collaboration began with the Kunsthistorisches Museum's collection of antique musical instruments with the aim of developing special guided tours for children within the museum.

The collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute has been strengthened and now includes two workshops per month.

Method

The method to teach that I use, starts from two points:

1) "Little observation and much reasoning lead to error; much observation and little reasoning lead to truth" (A. Carrel, Nobel Prize for medicine).

2) It is important to always tell children the truth, commensurate with their language.

As far as music is concerned, I start from an observation: it is a language for everyone.

On the basis of these assumptions, I began to experiment with a new method, which would merge a number of observations from established music pedagogies (Jaques-Dalcroze, Kodály, Orff), and at the same time be entertaining, captivating and current.

I started from what the term 'basic music education' means, from what pre-school children can and should learn in a music course.

I experimented a lot, checking which activities worked and which did not, continuing to study and asking myself questions.

I achieved excellent results, enabling more than 60 children in the first year alone to have fun while truly learning the names and concepts of specific musical language.

The course has a multi-year perspective, for the gradual achievement of the goals.

My students and I have made a lot of progress, and we still have a lot to do, learning grown-up things while having fun and at the same time, discovering a little piece of ourselves.

Attention to the parents

I am a mother of four children and I know that for a course experience to be positive, it must not only be so for the children, but also for the parents.
I therefore pay a lot of attention to the relationship with the families and to meeting their concrete needs.

Depending on what is best for the parents and the children, adults can either attend the class or wait outside the class.
Younger siblings (under one and a half years) are also well catered for in my classes, without having to pay an extra fee.
In front of the classes, there is an area with juice and water allways available and a changing table with nappies, wipes and changing mats.
I provide books, toys and drawing materials, both in case older or younger siblings have to wait until the end of class and in case students arrive a few minutes before class starts.
I have non-slip socks of different sizes with me, in case parents forget to bring them.
My classes are in places where it is possible to bring prams, bicycles, scooters.

At the end of the lessons, I send an e-mail with the syllabus and the materials used, so that parents can find out what was done in the lessons and, if necessary, propose music and exercises to the children during the week.
I am happy to have created an open and positive relationship with the families of my students, where comments and requests can be taken on board, with a commitment to meet each other.

Massimo Cialfi

The collaboration between Vivace and Maestro Cialfi began in September 2023.

From January 2024, we will also be offering various workshops in kindergartens and schools.

Diploma in classical trombone at the Conservatorio G. Verdi in Milan.

Massimo Cialfi also continued his composition studies for the classical trombone and passed the final examination of the Master's programme in Contemporary Music.

He also completed a two-year preparatory course in musicology at the Milan Conservatory.

He graduated from the Koninkljnk Conservatorium in The Hague (Netherlands) with a baroque trombone diploma and completed postgraduate studies in medieval and Renaissance music at the Schola Cantorum in Basel (Switzerland).

Massimo Cialfi is officially authorised by the state to teach music education at secondary and higher schools. He has been a state-authorised teacher of music education for lower secondary schools since 1984.

He has worked as a trombonist with the Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the "Orchestra regionale della Lombardia", "dei Pomeriggi musicali" and the RSI Orchestra in Lugano.

He was able to broaden his horizon in stage music with the Piccolo Teatro in Milan under the direction of G. Strehler ("Faust" First and Second Part) and with G. Tofano ("The Comedy of the Jews at the Court of Mantua") and with M. Ovadia in "Golem".

As a trombonist, he has also dedicated himself to the areas of jazz swing (New Forties Big Band) and jazz Dixieland (Savanna Serenades). He has also developed his skills in ethnic music, dedicating himself to the diatonic accordion (Italian button accordion), hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes (French musette), zampogna a paro e chiave (southern Italian bagpipes with two melodic pipes-chanter) and tuba (helicon).

Massimo Cialfi has tackled the study of the preservation and practice of Renaissance and Baroque dances from both a musical and choreographic point of view. To this end, he undertook internships in specialised training (with the dancers and choreographers A. Francalanci, F. Lancelot, D. Colonna). He has collaborated with several groups specialising in ancient dance (under the direction of F.Sapapani, M.Padovan and B.Cristini, among others).

He has also participated in numerous concert, radio and disc productions with important musicians and conductors such as G. Savall, N. Rogers, G. Garrido, K. Junghänel, G. Antonini, D. Fasolis, O. Dantone, G. Acciai, M. Mencoboni, R. Alessandrini, C. Toet, B. Torton and B. Bagby.

He was the founder of the renaissance music group "Theatrum instrumentorum Milano" and works constantly as a percussionist and salpinx player (the straight trumpet of the ancient Greeks), with the revival group for music of ancient Greece "Melpomene" under the direction of K.Steinmann.

He currently leads the medieval and renaissance music group "Alta Musicae".

He can look back on a long career as a concert trumpeter, as a trombonist (alto, tenor and bass) in the baroque and renaissance repertoire, the slide trumpet for the medieval repertoire and the ophicleide for classical and romantic music.

For several years he has also played hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, accordion and tuba (helicon).

In recent years he has devoted himself to in-depth studies of ancient and popular percussion instruments (medieval castanets, cymbals, frame drums) and has taken part in training seminars with G. Veles, M. Metzler, A. Pani and Madjid Khaladj.

He was artistic advisor and collaborated with various musical formations (including the group for ancient dances "Contrappasso Nuovo" in Florence, the instrumental group "Les Cornets Noirs" from Basel (Switzerland), the ensemble "Seicento Novecento" from Rome, the vocal-instrumental group "Orientis Partibus" from Assisi), Concerto Stella Matutina (Vorarlberg-Austria). He emphasised the continuation of his research and dissemination activities in the field of early music practice with the Renaissance and Baroque trombone.

In 2007 he taught a master's programme for early trombone at the Conservatorio "G. Verdi" in Turin.

Since 1990 he has been involved in antique organ studies and offers the rental of several organ positives throughout Europe (one in Renaissance style with 2 stops, one in early Baroque style "ad ala" with 4 stops, one in late Baroque style, a chest organ with 3 stops, a chest organ with tower of 5 stops), which gives him many years of specialised experience in basso continuo practice as well as in the study of the problems of historical tuning.

In 2012 he was appointed professor of experimental Renaissance and Baroque trombone at the Conservatorio di Musica "V. Bellini" in Palermo, and from 2012/13 until the 2016/17 academic year he was a lecturer in Renaissance and Baroque trombone at the same conservatory.

In May 2016, he married Iris Ebner-Cialfi in Milan and took up residence in Vienna, Austria, where their son Aurelio Ebner-Cialfi was born in September of the same year, completing the small family.

Silvia Clemenzi

Silvia and Benedetta first met as PhD students and then became friends. It was Silvia who persuaded Benedetta to start the music course project. After taking part in several Vivace courses as a mother, she has been working as a marketing and social manager at Vivace since July 2024.

Hello, my name is Silvia. I was born in Rome and grew up in Vienna. I have been travelling between the two metropolises and cultures from an early age. Languages and different ways of expressing myself have always fascinated me. So it's hardly surprising that I channelled my interest and curiosity into my studies and studied linguistics. I am currently deepening my knowledge with a doctorate at the University of Vienna. I got to know Benedetta through my research work. For me, music, like language, is a form of expression. If you like, a polyphonic or international language with messages and intentions. It's wonderful to watch children playfully engage with music and see their spirit of discovery grow. Since mid-July I have been supporting Vivace graphically as well as in the area of social media.

Valentina Policastrese

Valentina took part with her son in the ‘Crescendo’ course offered by Vivace, and this was the occasion on which she met Benedetta. From an acquaintance arose a professional esteem that led them to collaborate for the first time in March 2025.

Hello!

My name is Valentina, I was born in Busto Arsizio and I have been living in Vienna for 15 years.

I graduated in Educational Sciences in Milan, I came to Vienna and specialised as an educator with children

in the 0-6 age group and worked in various institutions as a native speaker and in German.

I have a specialisation in Montessori education and Reggio and am always up to date with the latest neuroscience and pedagogy.

In recent years, I have also been involved in the mother-tongue reading project of the Viennese libraries and I am passionate about art and literature.

I have a two-year-old bilingual son, to whom I pass on my curiosity about the world, about discoveries, about experimentation, for the imagination, for beauty and for art in all its forms.

That too is ́ for me to Education,letting it be.

Picture books and stories are a ́work of art to be heard and seen with the eyes, ears and imagination.

imagination.

Silvia Vena / Dario Scaturro

Benedetta and Silvia get to know each other in November 2024, after Silvia responds to an advertisement from Vivace seeking collaborators. Later, Benedetta also meets Dario and in April 2025 their collaboration officially begins.

Hello!

We are Silvia and Dario, two Italian actors and performers.

We have been working in Austria since 2023 and then decided to move to Vienna in September 2024 because we wanted to work in the most important theatres in the city (Vienna Volksoper, Burgtheater, State Opera).

Our professional training began in Milan in the field of musicals, which allowed us to broaden our view of the theatre discipline to include singing and dancing.

After our musical theatre training, our path led us to Bologna, where we had the opportunity to attend the Bologna Theatre School - Alessandra Galante Garrone.

This academy allowed us to explore our awareness of body and voice even more.

The training ranged from pantomime to clowning, from dance theatre to reading and analysing theatre texts and their authors. We also realised that theatre art is not only entertainment and pleasure, but also and above all a profound insight and awareness of ourselves and the world around us.

Being on stage means being aware of the space and the people around us, and not only that: it also teaches us to always be considerate of others, with full respect for their bodies and their space.

This is the essence of theatre (in a purely educational and didactic sense) and can be very well transferred to everyday life to improve concentration and self-awareness.

Our aim is to share our active experience in this field with the children and show them a range of exercises, techniques and games that can improve proprioception.

Because it is through play that creativity is unleashed, always remembering that theatre is a fun but serious game.