Biography
“GIOVANNI MASI IS A SORT OF LANCELOT DU LAC, BOLD AND EVEN BOLD IN FACING, ON EACH PAGE, EVEN THE MOST IMPERVIOUS SIDES, WITH A DIRECT DETERMINATION, WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST TREMBLE.
HE MAKES EVEN WHAT IS NOT SEEMED NORMAL: HIS VIGOUR AS A YOUNG MASTER OF FLAMENCO, ORDERED AND TEMPERED WITH A RATIONAL SETTING”
ANGELO GILARDINO (SUONARE NEWS)
GIOVANNI MASI, BORN IN 2002, CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING GUITARISTS OF HIS GENERATION
AS ATTENTED BY NUMEROUS AWARDS, INCLUDING THE GOLDEN GUITAR AS A PROMISING YOUNG PERFORMER AT THE
“29TH INTERNATIONAL GUITAR CONFERENCE” IN MILAN IN 2024.
GIOVANNI MASI BEGAN STUDYING THE CLASSICAL GUITAR AT THE AGE OF 13, UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF MASTER
GIANLUCA ALLOCCA. SUBSEQUENTLY HE ATTENDED THE ANNUAL ADVANCED COURSES OF MAESTRO
FRÉDÉRIC ZIGANTE, FIRST AT THE SCHOOL CIVIC “A.CORELLI” OF CASTELLANETA AND LATER AT THE ASSOCIATION “CORDE DI PRIMAVERA” OF FROSINONE. HE CONTINUED HIS STUDIES AT THE MUSIC HIGH SCHOOL “P.E. IMBRIANI” WHERE HE OBTAINED A DIPLOMA WITH FULL MARKS AND SUBSEQUENTLY
HE FINISHED WITH A MARK OF 110/110 HONOURS AND A MENTION OF THE I AND II LEVEL AT THE CONSERVATORY “D.
CIMAROSA” IN THE CLASS OF M° LUCIO MATARAZZO.
IN THE SUBSEQUENT YEARS HE ATTENDED THE POSTGRADUATE MASTER IN GUITAR AT THE SAME INSTITUTE, WITH SOME OF THE GREATEST TEACHERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA, AND THE TWO-YEAR ACADEMIC SECOND LEVEL COURSE IN CHAMBER MUSIC WITH A THESIS ENTIRELY DEDICATED TO THE COMPLETE CHAMBER MUSIC FOR GUITAR BY MARIO CASTELNUOVO- TEDESCO, COMPLETING BOTH COURSES WITH FULL MARKS AND HONOURS. DESPITE HIS YOUNG AGE, HE HAS RECEIVED OVER 30 AWARDS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS, AMONG THESE WE MENTION: “ENRICO MERCATALI”, “MADRID GUITAR COMPETITION”, “TRANSILVANIA GUITAR COMPETITION”, “CONCORSO CHITARRISTICO PAOLO AMBROSO”, “ALBANIA GUITAR COMPETITION”, “GIULIO
ROSPIGLIOSI”, “GUITART COMPETITION, PLOVDIV” AND OTHERS.
Today he has a fruitful concert activity that has allowed him to perform in numerous
concerts within important festivals and musical seasons in Italy, Spain, Germany,
Denmark, Slovenia and Bulgaria, among which we mention: Iserlhon Gitarren festivals (Iserlhon),
Vahingen and der Anz gitarren Festival (Stuttgart), Aalboorg Guitar Festival (Aalborg), Florence
Guitar Festival (Florence), Festival “Angelo Gilardino” (Vercelli, Ass. Angelo Gilardino), Sala Leon
(Fundacion Eutherpe – Madrid), Green Ties (Vercelli, Camerata Ducale), Domus Ars
(Ass.Domenico Scarlatti, Naples), Festival “Mario Castelnuovo- Tedesco” (Treviso, Asolo Musica),
Umbria guitar festival (Agimus of Perugia), Festival “Enrico Mercatali” (Teatro Verdi, Gorizia),
Chiesa del Sant’Eligio (Chitarra In, Rome), NMA Conservatory state (Sofia, Bulgaria)…
He is involved with the company DotGuitar SRL in the “Giovanni Masi collection”. A series that includes
4 active albums (“Obsequio a Los Maestros” and “Italian Ispiration vol.1 and 2”,”
Combinatoria”) with two world premieres of works dedicated to him (A.Gilardino
(Oremus) and C.Porqueddu (“The Fishing Village in the evening glow)). Albums, which have received
considerable interest and reviews from numerous international magazines (RAI Radio Tre, Il
Mattino, Radio Vaticana, Suonare News, Soundbord Magazine, GuitArt, Suonare News,
Castelnuovotedesco.com, The Intimate guitar, Il Ciriaco)
“Giovanni Masi’s technical and musical mastery is immediately in evidence with flawlessy
allied to beautiful sound and creative timbral variation.”
ALBERT KUNZE (SOUNDBOARD MAGAZINE)
“In the alternation of the tracks of two poetics so distant, yet so homogeneous in
coherence and rigor of writing, the listener is gradually captured and projected into an
environment of natural osmosis between an exuberant neoclassical taste”
DIANA CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO
he plays regularly in concert as a soloist with numerous Italian orchestras, among the most representative experiences we mention the one with the Conservatory “N.Sala” directed by M° Francesco Ovidio
within the “Autunno Chitarristico Beneventano” in an evening dedicated to the complete concertos
for guitar and orchestra by F. Carulli and that of the concerto op.99 by Mario Castelnuovo- Tedesco
performed under the direction of M° Carlo Goldstein.
In September 2022 – on the occasion of the commemorative festival to “Luigi Fricchione” – his
artistic collaboration in duo with M° Lucio Matarazzo was born. The duo plays regularly at the major European
guitar festivals and is active in the field of new music for two guitars,
being the dedicatees of works by contemporary composers such as L.Brouwer, S.Assad,
G.Susani, S.Goss, M.Del Priora, G.Del Vescovo, V.Saldarelli, T.Theodoridus, Franco
Cavallone. Works that will soon be published in their series of music for two
guitars by UT ORPHEUS editions, (Bologna).
They constantly hold masterclasses at guitar festivals and are teachers in middle
schools with a musical focus and have taught in the Pre-Afam courses at the
“Stanislao-Giacomoantonio” conservatory in Cosenza.
In 2023 he won a PhD at the University of Salerno in collaboration with the “Domenico Cimarosa” Conservatory of Avellino with a research project on the figures of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Angelo Gilardino.
Since 2022 he has been a sponsor Artist of the American company D’Addario and this has allowed him to collaborate with famous classical guitar diffusion channels such as Omni Location and
Guitarcoop.
Since 2023 he has been the artistic director of the Cittá di Solofra Music Festival.
He plays a cedar guitar built in 2018 by the Milanese luthier Roberto De Miranda and a
Leonardo De Gregorio from 2024.
PAOLA TRONCONE (GuitArt)
“His performances are fantastic: so poetic and intense! In contrast to many CDs that
are compilations of works by one composer or another, his deep reflection on
these pieces is evident, as is his refinement of expression.”
