“Nessun dorma”, from “Turandot” arranged for Tenor (or Violoncello) and Five Violoncellos

The untimely passing of Brazilian Maestro Antonio Meneses left a deep wound in many of us, whether we knew him personally or not. After the immense honour that had been creating the edition of the Capriccio sulla Niobe di Pacini for cello solo by Alfredo Piatti with him still alive, something more had to be done.

When Brazilian cellist Raïff Dantas Barreto revealed that M° Meneses had proposed him to create a project around the most famous arias by Puccini arranged for cello ensemble, we realized that we had to do our best to complete what destiny prevented him to.

The "Projeto Puccini" (Puccini Project) is possibly the last project M° Meneses conceived and we are proud to be finally able to unveil it to the world. It consists of seven among the most famous arias from Puccini’s operas arranged for Voice and Cello Ensemble (5 parts). Each title, then, also contains the solo part arranged for Solo Violin (for the female arias) or for Solo Cello (all of them).