The Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto is pleased to introduce its 2022 Artist in Residence, jazz guitarist Giancarlo Pirro.
Pirro will be mentored during his month-long stay in Toronto by Canada’s own jazz master, Roberto Occhipinti, who has invited Pirro to join him for a concert at Toronto’s premier jazz club, Jazz Bistro, with Occhipinti’s fellow jazz masters Kevin Turcotte on trumpet and Etan Ardelli on drums.
Giancarlo Pirro
on stage with
Roberto Occhipinti
Kevin Turcotte
Etan Ardelli
Tuesday, June 7 | 8:00PM
JAZZ BISTRO
251 Victoria St | Toronto ON
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ABOUT GIANCARLO PIRRO
Giancarlo Pirro is an Italian jazz guitarist and composer.
His musical production is heterogeneous and draws from the jazz tradition and, at the same time, from other sources such as classical, contemporary and electronic music.
Interested in tradition as he is in experimentation, Pirro’s natural inclination tends toward investigating the limits of music and toward research activity that often escapes adherence to precise stylistic rules.
Pirro works with ensembles ranging from the classic jazz trio or quartet to contemporary music ensembles, electronic music ensembles, and improvisation collectives. In addition, he often accompanies singers in a more traditional jazz setting. Pirro also works in electronic music with his duo Horselover FAT. He is also a computer music enthusiast, and he has made computer-aided composition software and synths.
Pirro has performed throughout Italy in jazz and experimental music festivals. He has recently participated in various jazz festivals, including The Siena Jazz Masters festival, JAZZIT Festival, Silent Festival, and Springtime Jazz Festival. In addition, he has played with many musicians from the Italian jazz scene and beyond, such as Logan Richardson, Glenn Ferris, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Silvia Bolognesi, Roberto Ottaviano, Enrico Gabrielli, and Gianni Lenoci.
Giancarlo’s recording career began in 2015 with the release of the EP Neoteny, original experimental music recorded with the classic organ trio formation. In 2018, he recorded Coaction (Siena Jazz Records) with the eponymous ensemble and Glenn Ferris and Logan Richardson. Pirro also contributes as a composer on several tracks on the album. In April 2022, the single FANS (Second Variety) was released, a preview of an album by the electronic music duo Horselover FAT which will be released in the second half of 2022.
Born in 1982, Giancarlo began studying guitar at the age of 10. He graduated in Jazz Music at the Conservatory of Monopoli (Bari) and graduated in computer science at the University of Bari. During his thesis work for his computer science degree, he collaborated with the department of electronic music at the Bari Conservatory of Music to create a software synth using the results of research on the correlation between musical timbre perception and emotional response. He won a scholarship at the Siena Jazz Academy along with ten other Italian musicians allowing him to participate in the prestigious InJam master’s program, which he completed in 2017. He has studied with Billy Hart, Jerry Bergonzi, Steven Bernstein, Nir Felder, Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Kreisberg, Will Vinson, Orlando LeFleming, Avishai Cohen.
ABOUT ROBERTO OCCHIPINTI
Born in Toronto, Bassist Roberto Occhipinti is a well-established presence in the Canadian and International Jazz scene. A 5 time Juno awarded musician, he is equally at home playing classical music as well as jazz and world music. In addition to leading his own groups with 6 recordings under his name, he has performed, toured and recorded with Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran, Jamey Haddad, Jovino Santos Neto, Don Byron, Jeff Coffin, Uri Caine, Bob Mintzer, Enrico Rava, Stefano Bollani, Benny Golson and Dafnis Prieto. As a classical musician, Roberto Occhipinti has performed with virtually every classical music ensemble in Toronto and has been a member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. In the field of contemporary music, he was principal bassist with the Esprit Orchestra for eight years, a member of Arraymusic for more than two decades, and performed with New Music Concerts. As a classical music producer, Occhipinti has worked on projects for the Gryphon Trio, Double Bass Virtuoso, Joel Quarrington, Quartetto Gelato, Annex String Quartet and the Las Vegas Young Artists Orchestra. As a Jazz Music Producer, he has produced recordings by Dave Young, Dafnis Prieto, Lorne Lofsky, Michael Occhipinti, Toronto Jazz Big Band, Composer’s Big Band, Manuel Valera and Hilario Duran. In addition to his work as bassist producer, Roberto Occhipinti founded a record label Modica Music with over 20 recordings of jazz, classical and world music artists. Notable recent projects include music director for the Pan Am Games orchestra with soloists Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade, European tours with Hilario Duran Trio as well as tours and residencies with his own quartet in Italy and the USA.
For more info: www.robertoocchipinti.com
Roberto Occhipinti discography as Leader
Trinacria-1998
The Cusp-2003
Yemaya-2005
A Bend In The River-2009
Stabilimento-2016
The Next Step-2021
ABOUT THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROJECT
The Artist in Residence Project is devised by MIDJ – Associazione Musicisti Italiani di Jazz (Association of Italian Jazz Musicians) and made possible with the support of the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI). Thanks in part to the participation of the Europe Jazz Network, the project aims to promote Italian jazz abroad through the creation of a network of residencies for young musicians at Embassies, Consulates and the Italian Cultural Institutes throughout the world.
The first edition of the AIR project, which was held in 2018, was a fundamental step in the path of personal and professional growth of the young musicians involved and helped make Italian jazz more widely known abroad through interaction and contacts between artists, in a creative exchange of experiences.