LUCIO MATARAZZO
GIOVANNI MASI
Giovanni Masi, born in 2002, concludes in 2022 the second level academic two-year period in guitar at the “D.Cimarosa” Conservatory of Avellino with full marks and honors.
In 2020 he made his debut at the "25th International Guitar Conference in Milan" and since then he has performed in prestigious guitar and music festivals in Italy and Europe.
He is today considered among the most promising guitarists of his generation as evidenced by the over 25 national and international competitions won and the already 4 solo albums active for the DotGuitar / CD label.
He has had the honor of being the dedicatee of works by composers such as Leo Brouwer, Angelo Gilardino, Cristiano Porqueddu and others.
The Giovanni Masi - Lucio Matarazzo duo, formed very recently, was born as a spontaneous consequence of a bond based on esteem, but also on empathy and complicity generated between a teacher and one of his best students during the studies in Avellino Conservatory.
Right from the start it aroused the great enthusiasm of Leo Brouwer, who wanted to dedicate the splendid Sonata Elegiaca to them.
The Duo is already carrying out various recording and editorial projects on South American and Baroque music, which will be soon released.
Lucio Matarazzo, internationally renowned teacher and performer, studied with Eduardo Caliendo and then with Angelo Gilardino. In more than 40 years of career he has played all over the world first in duo formation with M. Fragnito (relevant publications such as the Tango suite by A.Piazzolla and the 4 volumes of "Les Guitares bien tempérées" by M.Castelnuovo-Tedesco, recordings of many LPs and CDs), and then, after a brief solo period (his CDs dedicated to the 36 Capricci of L.Legnani and to the studies of M.Giuliani have become absolute references worldwide), with the GuitArt Quartet that he founded, with which he performed the world premiere of 4 concerts dedicated to GQ by L. Brouwer (C. Italico and Gismontiana), A. Gilardino (C. Italiano) and G. Drozd (C. Rapsodico) and irecently with the Virtuoso Duo with the amazing performer Aniello Desiderio, with whom he has published for Brilliant Classics a CD dedicated to A.Gilardino with the première of the Concerto del Sepeithos for two guitars and orchestra, and other works dedicated to them. He also founded and directs the online magazine DotGuitar.it and the DotGuitar/CD record label with a catalog of over 160 CDs dedicated to the guitar.
THINKING ABOUT ANGELO GILARDINO...
Thinking of Angelo Gilardino, that I met more than 40 years ago and with whom I had an uninterrupted relationship until he left us, is always a great emotion for me.
He was a Master right from the start, one of those who first of all inspire you and then guide you along your path.
He soon became a friend, then a colleague, confidant, mentor until he became a person who is part of your life, a second father present for any situation or request for advice or even help.
Angelo has lived without compromise both in the personal and in the professional sphere.
It is useless to stay here and talk about its culture and its art, now well known all over the world.
He has always lived his work using all the energy he possessed and trying to overcome all obstacles, and overcome them, every day, every instant.
Our last meeting a couple of months before its end was very nice, spent talking about our memories, still alive despite 40 years having passed, which he recounted with a very lucid ability to analyze the life and artistic paths of the people of whom there was discussion.
And the thing that seemed strange to me, but I was happy about it, was that in his words there wasn't even a small thought aimed at the ugliness of the world that has changed, as if yesterday were still today, making the extreme synthesis of a life project always aimed at total immersion in music, untouched by the events of the surrounding world, I would say not even from the death omens of which he was fully aware.
His incessant and precious work has led him to be among the few who leave such an intense memory that I am absolutely sure will never die.
Thank you Angelo, thank you for coming into my life!
Lucio Matarazzo
A legend tells of the great love between Sebeto, a rich landowner, and Megara. She died drowned in the waters of the gulf while walking and turned into a rock. Sebeto then, destroyed by pain, dissolved in tears and became a river to throw himself into the sea where his beloved had died. Angelo Gilardino has dedicated a concert for two guitars and orchestra to this "disappeared river" whose memory is entrusted to legendary stories and literary testimonies and has entitled it "Concerto del Sepeithos".
The Concerto was written and dedicated to the two most relevant figures of the current Neapolitan guitar scene in the international arena, Aniello Desiderio and Lucio Matarazzo. (ed)
