Walter Di Gemma

Walter Di Gemma was born in Milan in 1968. In the mid-eighties he made his debut in theatre with comedies and satirical plays.

In the Milanese cabarets and in those of many Italian venues he is a very active protagonist of successful shows in which monologues and songs alternate effectively between comedy and improvisation. Between the eighties and nineties he wrote both national and local radio and television programmes. He takes part in the Italian song and cabaret festival where he won first prize and alternates his performances with his love for the Milanese language. The new songs that he writes and represents unexpectedly become small "classics" of the Lombard song: EL PRET DE RATANAA, CORR BETTA, EL NOMM DE MILAN, and others. He writes songs with illustrious authors of the Italian song, including: LUIGI ALBERTELLI and ENRICO RICCARDI.

He participates in many shows with the masters of cabaret and Milanese and Neapolitan song, including: Roberto Brivio, Gianni Magni, Nanni Svampa, Gianni Cajafa, Ettore Lombardi. He institutes cabaret and song awards by reinventing the traditional repertoire with new themes and interpretations. In the mid-nineties Di Gemma leaves the cabaret genre in his opinion too tied to television canons and more focused on comedy as an end in itself and experiments with theatre-song, a genre invented by the inimitable Giorgio Gaber that Di Gemma does not hesitate to define " The greatest artist of the twentieth century ". The Giorgio Gaber foundation writes it to the ROSSETTI TEATRO in TRIESTE for a tribute linked to the great master, a personal friend of Walter. Other performances will follow in COMO, SARONNO (Giuditta Pasta Theatre), LUINO (Social Theatre), and MILAN (SAN GIUSEPPE Theatre).

It is in this more "cultured" context that Walter knows the entire repertoire of JACQUES BREL and translates sixty of his songs into the Milanese language. The success is such that Di Gemma prepares a récital dedicated to him, touching the seventy performances in the theatres of northern Italy. The whole press gives space to this singular event, so much so that France BREL, daughter of the great "JACQUES", wrote him a letter of congratulations. For A.car Edizioni he publishes three books: Aforime e pensierismi (2003), "Dagli appendini alle ante" (2004), dedicated to his personal history of cabaret and "El Strasciaball" (2008) in which he writes new proverbs in the Milanese language. . He is engaged in countless one-man theatrical shows that see him as the protagonist with the shows: "Milano Ride e Sings", "Blessed are those who have them", "A strange guy on stage", "Songs to laugh", "Rebelòtt", "Certainly not English but in the Milanese language" with theatres almost always sold out throughout Lombardy. He is also the protagonist in the Cabaret clubs of half of Italy with excursions to Switzerland and Slovenia. For the La Fuente Records label he records an EP called "LA CONFUSIONE". The hit song it contains (La stupidity) enters the TOP TEN of Italian independent labels. Some passages by him in Milanese find space on RAI radio programs.

He is on stage with some shows at the San Babila Theatre in Milan directed by Gennaro D'Avanzo and with Piero Mazzarella in the show "Milano dove vai". He is Soldout at the Derby Club, the Osoppo Theatre and the Politeatro di Milano. In addition to being a guest in the most famous programs of Antenna Tre and Telelombardia, 2010 begins for Walter Di Gemma with the release of his new CD "CABAREVOLUTION" in which he wisely blends irony, comedy, poetry and the irreverent satire typical of Milanese cabaret. The consensus is such that Di Gemma writes six other songs in Milanese and publishes them on a new EP entitled "Zafràn". He promotes the new CD in the show "MILANO" DICE SÌ ", title of the song with which he won the Giovanni D'Anzi Award in 2009.

In 2011 his new book "IL" VOCABOLAZZO "is a real publishing success. In the meantime, he publishes his new CD dedicated to Jacques Brel (The third volume) and is involved in the new "Milano a Teatro" program for TELEREPORTER.

In the following years he is repeatedly the guest of successful programs for TELELOMBARDIA and ANTENNA TRE.

In his new book “Bèll Seller” (Bel celano) he publishes a collection of theatrical monologues in Milan with attached CD containing the “live” recordings.

In 2016 he brings his show "EL MILANES PERDUU" to the NEW THEATRE in MILAN. "RITORNA A CASA LEXICO" is his new book published in 2017. With great public success he returns to the NEW THEATRE in Milan with the show "MILANO RIDE E CANTA"; on guitar: FABIO SPRUZZOLA. He is a guest of GERRY SCOTTI in the special episodes dedicated to comedians in the program "CADUTA LIBERA" for CANALE 5. In 2019, for the eightieth anniversary of GABER, he staged the show "GRAZIE, GABER" with enormous success at the ECOTEATRO in Milan of critics and audiences. The Antica Credenza di Sant'Ambrogio confers on Walter Di Gemma the "FERRAVILLA PRIZE" for the Milanese theatre (award established by the Antica Credenza and by ’Actor Piero Mazzarella).

He is currently a regular guest of the "Canta Lombardia" program on ANTENNATRE conducted by Sabrina Musiani.

External links

Personal Site

Walter Di Gemma on Wikipedia (in Milanese)

Design and © Copyright: Q Bolzoni 2021 - All Rights Reserved