Pizza, spaghetti and mandolin, emblem of Italy abroad, the cultural tricolor par excellence (apart from art, music, cinema, fashion and style)! But if pizza and spaghetti had such a widespread diffusion around the world, why cannot the mandolin have the same success?

If pizza and spaghetti are the result of passion, the same that drives every musician in choosing his instrument, why cannot the mandolin, that has played our emigrants soundtrack on their way to the “American dream”, take the place it deserves again?

The HATHOR PLECTRUM QUARTET, a group from Puglia, is trying to do it with great passion.

Talking about HATHOR PLECTRUM QUARTET means talking about the only permanent group of its kind in Puglia.

The musicians of the group are bringing the mandolins throughout the world in recent years.

In Italy they have had important collaborations with artists such as Antonella Ruggiero, Patty Pravo, Antonio Maggio, Fausto Cigliano, etc.

The HPQ’s story (journey) has begun at the "Conservatorio Piccinni" in Bari, where the members of the quartet (Antonio Schiavone, mandolin, Roberto Bascià, mandolin, Fulvio S. D'Abramo, sent, Vito Mannarini, guitar), after finishing their studies decided to continue the experience.

So, in 2010, the Hathor Plectrum Quartet (HATHOR, as tribute to the goddess of music in the land where the lute was created, progenitor of the instruments in the group, PLECTRUM because of instruments, QUARTET because the musicians are four) was formed.

The activity of the group abroad is really impressive: Ethiopia, Hungary, Cameroon, Ireland, Guatemala, El Salvador, Tanzania, Zambia, Argentina, China, Germany, Pakistan, Spain, Malta, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, South Korea, Brazil, Turkey, etc.

They have performed several world premieres (besides to gain the title of "the only permanent group of the genre in Puglia"). It performed several soundtracks of Italian authors for orchestra and plettro, 1st mandolin group at China Music Fest, etc.).

Only one regret: not yet in the USA, in the country that more than any other has welcomed the Italians in their history, in the country where more than anywhere else the Italian presence contributed to making it a big country, the HPQ has not yet brought its instruments and music.

The next concert will be in Bahrain in November, after that they will continue their tour with the "Christmas Mandolins Concert", an entire program focused on the Christmas repertoire (on youtube: Christmas Mandolins).

Can this be the program that will give the group the opportunity of the first performance in the USA?

Please, follow the group on FB or visit the site of the group www.hpqitalia.wix.com/hpqitalia