Daniele Finzi Pasca

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Director, author, choreographer, and clown, Daniele Finzi Pasca was born into a family of photographers and grew up in his father's darkroom, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-grandfather. His collaboration with his brother Marco began early in life, and together they founded two small soccer teams: Finfazu first, followed by Canarivi. Daniele's introduction to the world of the circus came through gymnastics, and he later took his first steps on stage under the guidance of a clown named Fery.

In 1983, he moved to India, where he worked as a volunteer looking after the sick. Upon returning to Switzerland, he founded Teatro Sunil, which he still heads to this day. His lifelong fascination with clowning led to a collaboration with Maria Bonzanigo, from which sprang a theatrical technique that they would call "Teatro della Carezza".
Finzi Pasca was sentenced to a short stay in prison for acting as a conscientious objector, and during that time, he put the finishing touches on his trilogy dedicated to "escape". One part of this trilogy was Icaro, a monologue for an audience of one. Interpreted by Finzi Pasca, and performed for more than 15 years in six different languages, Icaro has been presented around the world. This "benchmark" show would come to define the essence of style and elegance that is Teatro Sunil.
The years that followed saw Finzi Pasca create and direct some 25 shows with Teatro Sunil. His projects have been seen in more than 20 countries, and are marked by a profound sense of humanity and playfulness. They include: Rituale, Viaggio al Confine, Dialoghi col Sonno, Percossi Obbligati, Giacobbe, 1337, Aitestás and Visitatio (a production of Teatro Sunil and Carbone 14 of Montréal).

In recent years has written and directed Te amo, a production of Poramor Producciones and Teatro Sunil, featuring Ana and Dolores Heredia, and two shows for the Cirque Eloize of Montreal: Nomade - At night, the sky is endless and Rain - Comme une pluie dans tes yeux. Nomade opened in 2002 and has met with enormous success in Paris, London, Vienna, Montréal, Athens, Rotterdam, Beirut, Hong Kong, Rome, Milan, Madrid etc, with more than 700 performances. Rain opened in 2003 at Irvine, California, and has had great success in New York and San Francisco, as well as receiving the Best Touring Production of the Year Theatre Award in Great Britain. For this show Daniele Finzi Pasca was nominated as the best director at the Drama Desk Awards in New York.

In 2003 the Cirque du Soleil asked him to write and direct their new itinerant show, Corteo, which opened in April 2005 and is at present on tour in Japan.

In 2006 Daniele Finzi Pasca was commissioned to create and direct the closing ceremony of the XXth Olympic Winter Games in Torino. Ceremony followed by million of people.

In 2007 Daniele Finzi Pasca won the Swiss Award in “show business” and created, Nebbia (Cirque Eloize in co-production with Teatro Sunil). This new and successful show opened in December 2007 and will tour worldwide.

The year 2008 began with the Swiss Theatre Prize and with his nomination for the XII Europe Prize New Theatrical Realities.

In 2009 he will direct Kaija Saahario’s opera “L’Amour de Loin” for English National Opera, De Vlaamse Opera and Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

Daniele Finzi Pasca has been commissioned by the Chekhov International Theatre Festival in Moscow to direct the show opening the 150th celebration of Chekhov's birth, in 2010.

Ever-faithful to his early influences, the projects that Daniele Finzi Pasca produces are stamped with his personal theatrical style and vision, creating a distinctive stage presence and methodology for his performers, which he is often asked to present in theatre schools and academies. Casagrande has published his collection of short stories entitled Come Acqua allo specchio as well as the complete script of Viaggio al Confine.