Giuseppe Ottaviani is one half of the well-known Italian project: NU NRG, who have been releasing material on Vandit Records (Paul Van Dyk’s renowned label) since 2001. They released their first 12" on Vandit Records with their club anthem Dreamland in 2001, followed by the Spaceflower EP, Connective and their fantastic debut album Free Fall in 2004. In the meantime they started touring as a LIVE Act and produced various remixes and attained a series of achievements last but not least, the Trance Award 2004 & 2006 prize as Best Live Act.

Right now Giuseppe Ottaviani is engaged in his first solo compositions and performing Live around the world. We exclusively caught up with to find out how everything is going………..

1) You recently received the Best Live Act at the Trance Award for the 2nd year running as part of the duo Nu NRG, how did it feel to claim such an accolade?
It was great to take part at the Trance Award ceremony last time in Birmingham especially because it was the 2nd award in two years and this made me really proud. Hopefully I can win a new award as solo live act as well!

2) What do you think it is that sets Nu NRG out from the rest of the acts out there at the moment?Well I think that Nu Nrg did a good job in the last 4 years but now it doesn’t work as we took a break from the end of December ’05 and it’s gonna be a long break. What can I say, at the moment I’m following my way and all my jobs are focused on my solo project.

3) You have recently started performing your own solo act, is this something you’ve always wanted to do and what made you decide to go ahead with it?
I’ve always wanted to do a live act because as a musician I love to play music from keyboards. Playing my own music makes me really excited, it’s something that really touches me because I can feel the crowd's emotions closer to me and the live act allows me to control the music in realtime making each show different.

4) Which do you prefer, playing solo or playing as part of Nu NRG?
When Nu Nrg’s acts were stopped I decided to go ahead solo keeping the live act in my project too rather than djing and now I can say that it was a good decision because now I can play what I really like to play and show to people what comes from inside me. I think that playing solo is more emotional and rewarding for me.

5) Does going solo signal the end for Nu NRG or is there still plenty to come from the duo?
That’s not an easy question…as I said earlier we took a break but to be honest I don’t know how long it will be, I mean we didn’t announce any official split so it could be a possibility in the future to see Nu Nrg again but at the moment I’m not thinking about it and I’m just going ahead on my own path.

6) You are currently signed to Paul Van Dyk’s Vandit Records, can we expect to hear any new material from yourself in the near future?
My latest release was Until Monday, the track I made with Marc van Linden, and of course we are planning a new release. The track is gonna be called Through Your Eyes, but we are still working on that and we don’t have a release date yet.

Anyway you can follow www.giuseppeottaviani.it for official news and check the new material on Giuseppe’s InProgress were you can hear demos of all my stuff.

7) Which DJs and producers are doing it for you at this moment in time?
I always follow my “big boss” Paul van Dyk who has influenced me a lot since 1997, I’m also really into Adam Sheridan, he's one of my favourites at the moment along with Marc van Linden.

8) Do you have any big plans for the remainder of 2006?
As I told you I’m working on a new release nevertheless I’ll be mainly concentrating on making my upcoming shows better and better!

9) What do you like to do with your time off?
Usually I love play my piano but I also do what all other guys are doing so going out with my friends, going to the beach ( as I live next to a lake) especially now that we have 32 C° and the weather is great, going to restaurants and going crazy for food as all Italians do!

10) What can the crowd expect from your performance at your upcoming gig at Goodgreef?
I try to make each show unique with my music, like a concert, and I usually make some “surprise track” as well but I hope the main thing will be the happiness on the dance floor during all the night!

Catch the awesome talents of Giuseppe Ottaviani make his live solo Exclusive North East debut @ Goodgreef Tall Trees on Saturday 16th September