From the Bitter End to Apparitions: Denise Mangiardi’s Continuing Journey
At just 14, Denise Mangiardi was performing her own compositions at the Bitter End in New York City. Decades later, the Long Island-born musician is preparing to release Apparitions, her ninth album, in November 2026. The project brings her back to the art of storytelling while drawing on a career that spans songwriting, jazz performance and orchestral composition.
One encounter from her early career has remained particularly significant. After a New York performance with her band when she was 24, a man approached Mangiardi and told her, “Whatever you do, never give up on music.” She later learned that he was composer and arranger Gil Evans, who had been listening alongside Miles Davis. The advice became a defining memory in her musical journey.
Formal study and professional experience have both contributed to her development. Mangiardi majored in piano and composition at Berklee College of Music and holds three master’s degrees. Her further education included composition studies at Trinity Laban in Greenwich, London, and film scoring in Sofia, Bulgaria. She also received guidance from Ellis Larkins and went on to perform and record with musicians including Mark Soskin, Jerry Bergonzi and Harold Danko.
On Apparitions, that accumulated experience meets a new collaboration with co-producer Chris Hyson. The album includes three songs recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and its lead single is “Thursday’s Child.” Rather than focusing on a single strand of her background, the release brings together the different forms of musical expression she has pursued since those first performances in New York.