Antonio Breschi

Antonio Breschi, (born July, 1950) is a composer and pianist who comes from the small village of San Quirico in Collina near Florence, Italy. Although very accomplished in classical music, he is best known as one of the originators of New Age or World Music. He is also internationally-known as the inventor of Celtic piano playing. He divides his time living and recording both in Ireland and Italy. He also calls himself Antoni O'Breskey, to reflect his love for Ireland.

On April 6, 2005, Ireland celebrated his thirty years of work at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, where he was joined by Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna, and John Sheehan of The Dubliners. He was also joined by flamenco guitarist Juan Martin, accordianist Mairtin O'Connor, and Joe McHugh.

His latest project is called Ethnic Piano, and is a compilation of many of his works and is published on 14 compact discs. The last CD, Song for Carla, is a special edition of original songs written to commemorate the finding of his daughter, Carla, who disappeared as a child in the United States for 17 years. Ronnie Drew and Shirley Grimes are featured performers. Carla was found after an American insurance investigator, Alan McClendon of Macon, Georgia, heard about this story in 1997 while listening to the National Public Radio show, The Thistle and Shamrock, hosted by Fiona Ritchie. He volunteered to search for her, and, after an intensive and complicated search, McClendon traced Carla to a small town in Paraguay near the Iguazu Falls. After establishing contact with her, through cooperative efforts involving both the Anglican Church as well as the U.S. Consulate in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she was soon reunited with her father. The recording is dedicated to both Ritchie and McClendon for their efforts.

Interestingly, one of the people instrumental in the search was Douglas Gresham, the stepson of C. S. Lewis. Gresham was portrayed in the movie Shadowlands by actor Joseph Mazzello, his mother Joy was portrayed by Debra Winger, and his stepfather, C. S. Lewis was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. McClendon and Gresham stayed in communication during the search, and he proved to be a valuable source, especially regarding the ethics of reporting information to outside parties if the search was successful. After Carla was found, McClendon and Gresham met for the first time in Ireland when he stayed at Gresham's house for several days following several weeks of celebration in Italy in 1997. Gresham is now a producer of the successful film series based on the Chronicles of Narnia.

External links

* [http://www.ethnicpiano.com/ Antonio Breschi official site]
* [http://www.victoriamaryclarke.com/articles/O%20Breski%20antoni.html Antonio Breschi interview]