Antonio Virgilio Savona

Biography

Antonio Virgilio Savona (born in Palermo, 1 January 1920) was one of the members of the Italian vocal group, the Quartetto Cetra.

Savona's artistic career had a very early start. In 1926, aged 6, he began studying music. Two years later he joined a choir and at the age of 10 he debuted in a radio broadcast playing a piece on a piano during a children's program.

After high-school, Savona enrolled at the Saint Cecilia's Conservatory in Rome to study piano.

In 1941 he replaced Iacopo Jacomelli in a vocal quartet called Quartetto Egie. The group changed name to Quartetto Ritmo at first, then to Quartetto Cetra one year later.

On 19 August 1944 Virgilio Savona married the singer Lucia Mannucci, who later joined Quartetto Cetra to replace Enrico De Angelis who left the group in 1947.

Besides singing, Savona was the group's composer and arranger. He wrote the music while Tata Giacobetti, also a member of the quartet, wrote the lyrics. They worked together for four decades and produced hundreds of songs which made up Quartetto Cetra's vast repertoire.

Savona also composed music and wrote scripts for radio and TV programs, stage shows and movies. During 1970s he was quite active as pianist, orchestra conductor, arranger and producer. He also made extensive research on folk songs.

In 1991 he wrote an autobiographical book about Quartetto Cetra, published by Sperling & Kupfer in the Supersound collection.