CURRICULUM VITAE English - Luca Rinaldo Villani, Classical Guitarist

Luca Rinaldo Villani was born in Varese in 1963. On the national and international scene since 1984, he has been playing in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, USA, invited in important Festivals (Crete, Edinburgh , Szeged, ...) also alongside renowned artists (the violinist David Hume, the oboist Franco Pardelli, the pianist Ryoko Tajika, the flutist Peter Skladany, the "Quartetto Rubio", "The Edimburgh Quartet", the "Soloists of Rome", the orchestra "Philomusica of Edinburgh ", the ORL Orchestra of Rome and Lazio ...). Invited several times by some prestigious Italian Cultural Institutes abroad (London, Edinburgh, Vienna, ...), in 1994 he had the opportunity to play in San Francisco, California, and since 1996 he has been regularly invited for concert tours in Scotland and England, gaining unanimous support from both the public and specialized critics. In 2003 he performed a series of concerts in Calabria, ranging from the concert with Orchestra (op.30 by Mauro Giuliani) to guitar quintets with strings by Luigi Boccherini, from solo pieces to the duo with the flute (Histoire du Tango by Astor Piazzolla) realizing a DVD produced by ARDIS of Catanzaro. In 2004 he produced the CD Guitarapture with music by Dyens, Sor, Walton and the Bach Chaconne.
In 2005 he was invited by the Italian Cultural Institute of Edinburgh to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Giuseppe Mazzini with the recital Guitarimmortal, recorded on CD. In 2006 he collaborated on a multimedia program, interpreting music by Bach, Brouwer, Ponce and Walton in the English cathedral of Hitchin and in the Scottish Greyfriars Kirk with a series of images and projections conceived for the occasion by the English artist Richard Phillips. In 2007 he performed in the Sala Sinopoli of the new Parco della Musica the Concert of Heitor Villa-Lobos flanked by the ORL (Orchestra of Rome and Lazio) under the batoon of David Geringas, a historic pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich, with excellent public success. In 2008 he completed the Variations for Guitar by Ottorino Respighi in his own version, interpreting them for the first time at St Cecilia's Hall, at the Edinburgh Festival. In 2009 he was invited by the Romanian Academy in Rome to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the famous musicologist and composer Roman Vlad, playing subsequently in Bucharest on the occasion of the European Union Day personally invited by the Romanian Minister of Culture.
In 2010 he edited an extensive interview for the Fronimo with maestro Vlad, much appreciated by the public and critics. In 2011 he recorded the Italy 150th CD with music by Giuliani, Regondi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Domeniconi, Takemitsu and his own, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of free and democratic Italy, performing the program at the Gesellshaft fur Musiktheater under the patronage of IIC Vienna. Another Grand Solo live recording (2012) includes music by various authors: Albeniz, Granados, Sanz, Sor, Piazzolla, as well as his successful composition "My Neverending Love Labyrinth". Winner of the National Competition held in 2011, from 2014, as a School Headmaster, Luca particularly stimulates music in the institutes he directes: in particular in 2017-2018 he organised a series of 7 concerts with the Savelli Orchestra, to improve the school and territory culture. On the 50th anniversary of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco he performed the Concerto in RE, op 99. In 2017 he toured with particular success in Romania, England and Scotland together with the cellist Sinziana Bica. At the Edinburgh Festival (August 2018) Luca presented his new Recital Guitar Folias, conceived on the theme of Follia di Spagna, interpreting the most beautiful transcriptions over the centuries, by Sanz, Sor, Llobet, Ponce. In March 2019 he performed the Concierto de Aranjuez in a tribute to Joaquin Rodrigo on his 20th anniversary for the Concert Series "Musica allo Scalo", which he conceived. At next Edinburgh Festival 2019 he will present a new solo recital with masterpieces by Arcas, Brouwer, Sor and Rodrigo and also in the duo Corde InCanto with the soprano Silvia Mirarchi playing beautiful songs by Giuliani, Bellini, Garcia Lorca, de Falla and Rodrigo.
Luca Rinaldo Villani just 10 years old began to study guitar with Maestro Roberto Chiarini, graduating in Classical Guitar in 1986 at the Santa Cecilia State Conservatory of Music under the guidance of reputed M° Bruno Battisti D’Amario. In 1990 he graduated in Literature with a thesis in History of Music "The repertoire for Voice and Guitar from 1760 to 1830", lecturer Prof. Ch. Roul Meloncelli at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". In 2007, senior student back at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia, he graduated with honors gaining the II level degree in Interpretation, with a thesis on the Sixth Cello Suite by J.S. Bach in a personal transcription for guitar as well as presenting analysis and performance of Alberto Ginastera's Sonata op.47.
Teacher and composer, Luca has to his credit several original pieces deposited to the SIAE, recorded in 2014 for Radio Vaticana and has realized challenging transcriptions from Bach, Faurè, Mozart, Stravinsky. He has published important critical and historical essays for the well known guitar magazines Classical Guitar (Newcastle, The Manuel de falla Homenaye a Debussy) and Il Fronimo (Milan, an extensive Interview to Roman Vlad ).