EMOTIONS COLLIDE AND DREAMS AWAKEN
AS SINGER-SONGWRITER-PIANIST GINA SCIPIONE SEIZES HER "DESTINY" WITH DEBUT CD "Destino."
PHILADELPHIA -- When GINA SCIPIONE (skip-ee-YONE) sits down at her piano to write a song, she's as likely to be influenced by Kate Bush and Billie Holiday as she is by emotional collisions and waking dreams. Gina feels destined to share her personal yet universal experiences through song and performance, hence the title of her debut CD, DESTINO, the Italian word for "destiny."
From the very stage from which she first debuted her original material, GINA SCIPIONE celebrated the release of DESTINO -- an album which brilliantly and succinctly crystallizes the life experiences she chronicles from one track to the next -- at the nationally acclaimed Grape Street Pub in Manayunk, PA on July 25, 2002.
GINA SCIPIONE continues to establish a reputation for gracefully intertwining the instruments of piano and voice to create a unique mixture of introspective emotion and message. In concert, the Philadelphia area singer-songwriter travels through her set list into another dimension, unleashing the feelings of a woman alive. Her songs range in mood, key, tempo and topic -- from breaking barriers of ignorance and fear to family relations and love. Yet no matter how complex the topic, it's consistently translated through Gina's vast compositional skills into a well-crafted listening experience.
"Each song on the CD represents some of my life experiences," says the Bucks County, PA native, now in nearby Southern New Jersey. "When I write, I usually have an issue that needs attention, and the creative process tends to help me gain resolution."
"Independence Day" -- easily Gina's most-requested song in concert -- tells the story of taking back one's powers and ending a relationship with someone who was never really willing to give in the first place. Those unanswered offerings are further explored in "My Request," about a woman's wants and needs in a relationship (prompting men who've heard it to often call it "The Commitment Song").
"Winter" deals with separation from a lover, while "A Moment of Truth" tells of misunderstanding another's intentions and "Silence" probes family dysfunction. DESTINO closes with "Take Me to Freedom," a song of love without attachment intended to leave the listener reexamining unconditional love.
Though she is just now releasing her first CD, Gina has already played at all of Philadelphia's top acoustic rooms -- including The Tin Angel, The Point and The Fire -- and has performed at venues as varied as The Arts House in Delaware and the Sun Music Company in New York City. She also hosted and performed at the First Annual Bryn Mawr Music Festival at The Point (2002). Other festivals where Gina has showcased and performed include the Philadelphia Music Conference (2000 and 2001), the Newton Colony/WXPN Arts and Music Festival (2001, the Haddon Heights (NJ) Fall Festival (2000), and the Pumpkin Festival in Core Creek Park, PA (2001).
She produces and hosts a monthly songwriters' showcase at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where she performs with different songwriters each month at the Philadelphia Cathedral. Since 2001, Gina has served double duty for the Philadelphia AIDS WALK as a performer and key entertainment coordinator, overseeing some two dozen acts each year. She also has played numerous benefits to support other charitable organizations such as The Make A Wish Foundation, Dreamcatchers, The American Red Cross, Skyhelp (supporting workers of the September 11 terrorist attacks), the Marine Stewardship Council of the World Wildlife Fund and a disabled musicians fund.
On Philadelphia radio, Gina has appeared on the renowned "Folk Show" on WXPN/Philadelphia with Gene Shay in two different guises -- as an interview subject for her and a backup singer.
Gina began taking piano lessons in second grade and continued throughout her youth. Having sought out and studied with various piano and voice teachers from Settlement Music School, Temple and Juilliard since her teens, she is forever pushing herself as an artist. During her Master's studies in Education at Penn, Gina could often be found unofficially auditing Music classes in the School of Music. She spent a memorable and particularly influential semester studying music and arts in Salzburg, Austria, through the American Institute for Foreign Studies and the University of Salzburg. While studying overseas, Gina sang lead and backup vocals with an original Austrian band called Cash and Powder. And upon her return, she landed a vocalist gig with the legendary Vegas swing combo the Playboys, led by Juilliard faculty member Kenny Iatarola Gordon.
Moving from a swing band to a chant choir, it was soon evident that GINA SCIPIONE needed to channel all she had learned from her vast and varied experiences and launch the solo career she realized she was always "destined" to pursue. DESTINO is not only the culmination of all Gina has experienced, but the first major foray from a woman with so much more to give.
"Releasing DESTINO is like a birth for me," says Gina. "I feel like I've been pregnant for a long time with these songs, and finally the babies are being born. It's time to let them go and have their own lives, wherever they may lead."
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