Becky Archibald

becky archibald musician & composer

I found refreshment in the art, culture, and musicof Lisbon, Portugal, and three areas of Italy: Florence, Pisa and the Ligurian Sea in Livorno. The high point was meeting a hero of mine, Italian pianist and Scarlatti master Sandro Ivo Bartoli. Becky was inspired to study flamenco in Spain after seeing her first flamenco performance while in Florida for her mom’s 80th birthday. But the pandemic closed dance schools and canceled festivals. Stuck at home, Becky became “magnetized” by Domenico Scarlatti, an Italian Baroque composer. She found out he’d lived in Lisbon, and dreamed of following in his footsteps. I’ve always loved Scarlatti, but now, from a composer’s point of view, I was seeing and hearing his Spanish rhythms and flamenco guitar-inspired creations in a new way. In Lisbon, with friends who lived there as guides, Becky saw flamenco in the streets, Fado singers and guitarists in a bar, and a performance by the Metropolitan Orchestra of Lisbon. Before her travels, she reached out to Bartoli and was able to meet him and his wife, violinist Debra Fast, in Pisa. (“A dream come true.”) In Florence, she was inspired by the Terrazza Mascagni on the Ligurian Sea. This fellowship reminds us to dream big. I don’t think I would have pursued the dream to the end or written my note to Sandro Ivo Bartoli without this uplifting belief in me.

"If I were to give a theme to my travels it would be, 'just say yes.'"

Becky Archibald

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