About the Duo
Duo Crepuscolo is a violin-guitar duo (featuring both classical and electric guitar) based in New York City and Sicily, composed of American violinist Francesca Abusamra and Italian guitarist Giuseppe Buscemi. They met while both students at the Manhattan School of Music, and began playing together as a duo in 2023, with their initial concert series taking place in Sicily. Buscemi hails from Sicily, and Abusamra has Italian-American heritage, so they bonded over Italian culture and music.
The duo aims to bring attention to the repertoire for violin and guitar, as well as expand it, working with living composers to create new music. Many of the duo’s performances focus on Italian music, as they want to connect their two cultures through their art form, creating a bridge across the ocean between their two homes of New York City and Sicily.
Some of their performances have included a series of concerts in Sicily, and a featured performance during Italian Cultural Day at the United Nations International School in NYC. They played a program of all-Italian music, including both classical works, film music, and classic popular music.
This season they will be premiering Dialogo a Due (Dialogue for Two) written for violin and electric guitar, dedicated to them by Italian composer Paolo Marchettini, in a concert at the Italian Institute for Culture in New York City.
What’s in a Name?
The name was inspired by a beautiful dusk sky Francesca and Giuseppe saw together one evening. The name also pays homage to Giuseppe’s Italian language.
Crepuscolo
noun (Italian) [kreˈpuskolo]
1. twilight, dusk
Meet Our Members
Francesca Abusamra
Violin
Based in New York City, Francesca Abusamra is a violinist dedicated to creating an engaging and accessible musical experience. She is passionate about chamber music, and is currently a member of Duo Crepuscolo, a violin-guitar duo focused on connecting Italian and American cultures, and creating new repertoire for the ensemble. She was also formerly a founding member of the Opus87 Piano Quartet.
Abusamra believes in the importance of working with living composers, regularly performing and premiering new works. She is also passionate about interdisciplinary performances; in collaboration with choreographer Allison Armstrong of Golden Hour Dance, she created a performance project where live solo violin interacted with dancers. She also participated in a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gloria at Symphony Space, together with Dakshina Indian Dance Company.
Ms. Abusamra regularly performs with various orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the NYC area, and has performed in numerous concert venues across the city, such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Zankel Hall, and Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall, and at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music. Originally a Michigan native, she has also performed in the Detroit Symphony’s Orchestra Hall, performing a double concerto alongside DSO Assistant Concertmaster Hai Xin Wu and chamber orchestra.
Abusamra is currently on violin faculty at two schools in New York City. She completed both her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Laurie Carney and Peter Winograd, both of the American String Quartet. Her violin is Jonathon I. Price.
For more, please visit her website below.
Giuseppe Buscemi
Guitar
Italian guitarist Giuseppe Buscemi, Naxos artist and winner of international competitions, has performed concert tours throughout Europe and the USA, invited by renowned concert associations and presenters to perform in notable concert halls, including his debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.
Eager to explore and expand the possibilities of his instrument in solo and chamber music settings, he has performed with renowned musicians such as Gianni Bicchierini, Leonardo Augello, CY Leo, and the BlackBox Ensemble, and has premiered works by internationally acclaimed composers such as Reiko Füting, Carlo Galante, and Paolo Marchettini. His repertoire ranges from the Baroque era to the latest contemporary works, both in solo and chamber music for classical and electric guitar.
His fourth and latest CD, named “Transcendence”, and published in 2023, shows a unique program of pieces arranged by Giuseppe for his harmonica-and-guitar duo with CY Leo. All his albums have received high critical praise from music magazines, such as American Record Guide, Yorkshire Post, Guitare Classique, Gitarre & Laute, and SeiCorde, and have been broadcast on radio stations such as RAI Radio 3, Radio Vaticana, Emisora del Sur, and The Intimate Guitar.
Giuseppe is a faculty member of renowned music schools in Manhattan, and has also taught from 2013 to 2019 in Italian conservatories and music schools. He is currently a candidate for the Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where he also works as teaching assistant on the guitar faculty, and is a student of David Leisner. Giuseppe plays a Guido Di Lernia guitar.
For more, please visit his website below.