Location
CCCM Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts
2401 West 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90057
View Map
Entre Mundos
"Mi expresión artística vive entre mundos: Acústico y eléctrico, clásico y popular, dulce y violento” La obra de Giovanni Piacentini es difícil de categorizar. Su música nos transmite una depuración digna del legado cultural clásico y a su vez nos ofrece una frescura sonora contemporánea. Su interpretación en la guitarra va más allá del asombro técnico hacia un mundo sonoro donde pinta, con un sonido autentico, un mundo entre luces y sombras. Un mundo entre el sueño y el mundo real.
Between worlds
"My artistic expression lives between worlds: Acoustic and electric, classic and popular, sweet and violent " The work of Giovanni Piacentini is difficult to categorize. His music transmits a depuration worthy of the classical cultural legacy and at the same time offers us a contemporary sound freshness. His interpretation in the guitar goes beyond the technical amazement towards a sound world where he paints, with an authentic sound, a world between lights and shadows. A world between the dream and the real world.
Giovanni Piacentini is a composer whose body of work is as diverse as his cultural background. Born in Mexico City to an Italian doctor, an opera lover, and a Mexican figurative painter, he was exposed to a wide array of artistic expressions that helped shape his musical vision. As a 9 year old, he picked up his aunt’s old guitar and played it until his fingertips were raw. He developed an intense love for the instrument which remains his main vehicle for discovering his sound. As a teenager, Giovanni was exposed to a myriad of musical genres ranging from his father’s opera and Italian song collection to Mexican folk music, Brazilian “bossa-nova”, and, of course, Rock and Roll. Having mastered some of the standard guitar repertoire, he began exploring the more contemporary guitar language of works by composers like Leo Brouwer, Toru Takemitsu and Benjamin Britten. A chance encounter in Rome with guitar great Eliot Fisk led to Giovanni's invitation to study first at his seminar and eventually as Fisk's full time student. At this time, Giovanni was already writing a few short pieces for other instruments and decided to devote his time entirely to writing music rather than becoming a concert guitarist. He graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music with a B.A. in composition and music synthesis. He went on to write his first instrumental compositions, “Chaotic Transformations” for two marimbas which premiered at the Boston Public Library as well as “Tryptic” for piano trio. He also wrote his first solo guitar piece “Suite Lacanja”, a programmatic work inspired by the landscape of the Lacanja river in southern Mexico. Giovanni dove deeper into the more experimental sounds of Ligeti and Xenakis while also exploring the late medieval and renaissance polyphony of Josquin Des Pres and Palestrina. In a seminar with Mexican composer Victor Rasgado, he realized he needed to expand his knowledge and experience and decided to further his studies abroad. Since then, Giovanni has been very active as a composer receiving commissions and working with a variety of ensembles including the harp duo, “Duo Scorpio” in NYC, the Irish violin and viola duet “Collailm Duo”, the concert series “Music of Reality” in Boston, MA, acclaimed violinist Tim Fain, the “Mexiam” festival in San Francisco, CA, the “Cuarteto Habana” in Havana, Cuba and the UCLA wind ensemble. He is currently writing a Piano Concerto for Mexican pianist Rodolfo Ritter and the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. His work “Alebrijes” for solo flute was featured in a dissertation thesis on emerging Latin American composers at the University of Utah. Giovanni is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Music Composition at the University of California Los Angeles where he is also a teaching associate of music theory and aural skills.