RaraOvis is the studio project of Leonardo Pegoraro, an Italian-Australian writer and composer.

A project born in 2021, we’ll reveal its essence here. The album was created with the invaluable collaboration of Matteo Ricci, musician and sound engineer at “Studio 77” in Genoa, and under the artistic direction of Fabio Zuffanti, a key figure in the Italian progressive rock scene. Through symphonic instrumentation, ubiquitous yet never invasive irregular time signatures, evocative arrangements, and a refined melodic sensibility, the album opens with “oriental” hints (including, perhaps for the first time in the history of the genre, a Tibetan bell solo), before moving on to classical music, rock influences, and a touch of minimalism and experimentation—the fusion of progressive rock.

The concept album addresses and transforms the theme of love into a journey divided into five stages (five songs, including, at the request and supervision of the expert Zuffanti, the lengthy final suite) that elevate the experience to a philosophical asceticism. The choice of musical genre is not accidental: the nature of prog, made up of themes that contrast, develop, and transcend one another, musically reflects the path of Eros itself.

A dialectical journey that, from the initial uncertainty of the opening track (Primi Passi), traverses the fire of unrequited infatuation (Sento Caldo), opens to eternal passion (Luci a Mandorla), confronts its possible finiteness (I Contours of Dawn), culminating in the revelation of Platonic-Socratic Eros (We Will Reveal Its Essence): desire, born from a lack, is revealed here as the driving force of a journey toward a higher form of knowledge.

Translating all this into music is a twelve-piece ensemble. The lead vocals, which alternate and overlap in a harmonious dialogue, are singer-songwriter Fabio Cinti, with one of the most elegant and sophisticated styles in the Italian music scene and a master interpreter of Franco Battiato, and Irene Manca, a promising young Genoese singer with a clear and intense timbre, capable of modulating her expressiveness between lightness and vigor.

Pegoraro, in addition to composing the music and lyrics and providing generous keyboard textures for each song, also designed the arrangements. Completing and enriching the arrangements are Ricci’s experience and versatile taste, who also provides part of the electric guitars, the soundscaping, and the meticulous mixing and recording of the other musicians involved. Among the latter, Luca Scherani’s lyrical and seductive grand piano and Andrea Orlando’s ingenious and engaging drums stand out in all the songs. Giulio Gaietto also makes a constant and essential presence on bass—at times delicate, at times energetic, depending on the musical texture, and with a special touch of the bow at the end of the fourth track—and on keyboards in some sections, complementing and interacting with Pegoraro’s. Enhancing the whole are the harmonious and incisive guitars of Massimo Montarese and Marco Topini, sometimes classical and acoustic, sometimes electric and distorted; Osvaldo Loi provides sweet commentary on violin and viola; Mauro Serpe caresses the first track with his flute; while in the last track, almost as if to close the circle, the histrionic Jacopo Gabutto appears, creating a small wind ensemble (bassoon, flute, and clarinet) within the overall ensemble. The result? A work of “romantic” progressive rock distinguished by its artistic and intellectual research. A work capable of accompanying the listener and capturing their attention with its sonic seduction and original twists. Destined to leave its mark for its ability to pay homage to the tradition of Italian prog, while simultaneously reinterpreting it in an innovative, gentle (like the dancing legs sung in the second track) and enveloping guise.