There’s more than one string to Pietro Lusvardi’s bow, as Sue Mason discovers when she meets the renowned musician who is preparing for the premiere of his first opera . . .

Pietro Lusvardi plays the double bass and percussion instruments

Most people would be content to play one musical instrument well. Not Pietro Lusvardi. And songs are often written by a partnership, but not those in which Pietro has had a hand.

For the Swiss-born musician is such an accomplished double bass soloist that he can also play three or four other instruments at the same time.

And he has written the lyrics, music and script for a new opera which has its premiere this month.

Colombo Tutto Tondo (Christopher Columbus, The World is Round) is a comic opera made up of 10 arias, sung in Italian and English, and instrumental pieces interwoven with narration.

It tells the tale of Christopher Columbus in a style inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte, where the narrator and the singers share lines on stage, and in which each character has a singular costume and mask that is representative of the character’s role.

In Colombo Tutto Tondo, the narrator is dressed as a pirate, the Queen wears a crown and Columbus a captain’s hat.

“The songs didn’t take long to write but the script took a bit longer,” says Pietro, who teaches double bass at Hymers and Ampleforth and at Hull University. “I started on it about a year ago, in my spare time.

“The lyrics and the music came together. When I was composing the music, the words came. Eighty per cent of the lyrics are in Italian but some are in English. The lyrics for the music came very quickly but I did the narrative script for the opera later.

He explains why he wrote the opera.

“I wanted to do something around Columbus’s journey and combine it with the style of the Commedia dell’Arte,” he says, speaking excellent English in a strong Italian accent.

“I thought Columbus was a good character for such an opera because he is pompous and a dreamer.”

The opera – strictly an opera buffa (comic opera) features four soloists and a narrator and is performed by the Italian ensemble Gatto Marte. Yes, Pietro hasn’t just composed it – he also plays the music. As well as Pietro – on double bass, harmonica, percussion and banjo – the quartet includes Maximilian Brooks on piano, percussion and keyboard; Nino Cotone on violin and hang drum and Steve Burnett on bassoon, clarinet and sax. Kristoffer Wright, on drum kit and percussion, will join Gatto Marte for the premiere performance.

“The opera has arias, duets, quartets and trios,” says Pietro, who also tutors the bass section of the City of Hull Youth Orchestra.

“The story itself is very simple because, although it is for entertainment, I wanted it to be suitable to be performed for young people too.”

The story follows the quest of Columbus to raise cash for his big expedition. He is married to Columbina but is drawn to the Queen of Spain, Isabel.

The Queen loves Columbus and tries to persuade her husband, King Ferdinand, to pay for the trip.

“Columbus is very jealous of the king’s satnav and creeps into his bedroom, where he keeps it hidden under his bed. But when Columbus sets sail, a pirate ship is waiting for them and attacks the boat,” explains Pietro, who studied at the Conservatorio of Como in Italy, specialising on the contrabass.

It sounds comic and it’s meant to be, but there is a serious aspect too.

“It’s a little silly but the lament of Columbine is sad, and there is a very sad waltz, but a happy ending.”

Like Columbus, Lusvardi has travelled the world, for since graduating in 1997, his contrabass has taken him around the globe and led to performances with numerous musicians and orchestras. He worked in San Francisco for six years before coming to England in 2004 with his wife and three children.

His music ranges from serenely beautiful harmonic sounds to rhythmical jazz improvisations, and is always an interesting treat for the ears. To see him perform is a treat for the eye, too, especially if he is playing more than one instrument at once, as he often does.

“I started playing musical instruments when I was at primary school,” says Pietro. “It was the guitar first, then when I was a teenager I took up the double bass.”

The arrangement for the instruments in the opera is very innovative, especially for the double bass, he explains.

“It’s innovative because I use my feet,” he says. “I play percussion with my feet, I play the harmonica and I use a wood block and drum. It’s experimental.”

Lusvardi has published two albums featuring original music written for solo double bass and seven albums with Gatto Marte, a chamber ensemble of classical background but with a dash of jazz and a twist of folk music.

A forthcoming solo CD will feature Pietro playing other instruments while playing strings and tapping rhythm on the double bass.

Gatto Marte has composed music for silent films such as Malombra by Carmine Gallone; The Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin; Balloonatic by Buster Keaton; A Woman by Charlie Chaplin and lately Faust by Frederich Murnau.

The premiere performance of Colombo Tutto Tondo will be held on Sunday, 1st November in the Brittan Building at the University of Teesside.

It will feature soprano Wendy Goodson as Colombina; mezzosoprano Fiona MacDonald as Queen Isabel of Spain; tenor Angus McAllister as King Ferdinand of Spain and Diablito, a little devil; Ronan Paterson as the narrator and baritone Julian Tovey as Columbus.

All are professional singers but Tovey is perhaps the best known. Truly international, he made his debut with New York Philharmonic in December 2008 and at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala in May 2008 as Winston in Lorin Maazel’s opera, 1984. He sings with the English National Opera and has appeared throughout Europe and in Japan in concert. Julian was born in Guisborough and for many years he played viola in the Cleveland Youth Orchestra.

Pietro explains why Teesside has been chosen for the premiere.

“Julian Tovey, whose family is from my village on the North Yorkshire Moors, introduced me to Janice Webster, the Creative Arts and Cultural Enterprise Consultant at Teesside University, and they decided to produce the opera. If we can get the sponsorship, I hope it can come to Hull.”

Tickets for the premiere performance of Colombo Tutto Tondo on Sunday, 1st November are £10 (concessions £8, under 18s free). Tickets will also be available on the door.