Acclaimed Italian guitarist Antonio Innocentis to perform at ASU

WHAT: Guitar Series Concert: Antonio Innocentis

WHEN: 7:30 p.m., April 5

WHERE: Katzin Concert Hall, Music Building, 40 East Gammage Parkway

TICKETS: $14 general, $12 faculty/staff/seniors, $10 students; call 480-965-6447

INFORMATION: 480-965-TUNE (8863)

“This is a new level of guitar playing unapproached by all but a few.”
-- Larry Cooperman, New Millennium Guitar Magazine, December 2000

Antonio Innocentis, an acclaimed musician known for his dark-toned virtuosity, closes out the 2001-2002 season of the Guitar Concert Series sponsored by the School of Music in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Friday (April 5) in the Music Building’s Katzin Concert Hall on the main ASU campus in Tempe. Tickets are $14 general, $12 faculty/staff/seniors and $10 students. Call the Herberger College Box Office for tickts, 480-965-6447.

Selections will include Bach’s Suite BWV 996 in E minor; Toccata by Paradisi; Sonatina by Harris; Three Studies from Twelve Studies, op. 140, by J.W. Duarte; Four Pieces by Barrios-Mangoré; three pieces from Cooperman’s Bless Me, Ultima Suite, and Four Caprices by Paganini.

Innocentis, who was born in Naples in 1961, was awarded “Summa cum Laude” at the “D. Cimarosa” Conservatory, Avellino, Italy, in 1985. He won the first prize in several guitar competitions including Pesaro, Bardolino and Genoa. Innocentis was the first guitarist in the world to perform the entire 24 Caprices by Paganini in one single concert. He also premiered and published several works especially composed for him. Important composers have dedicated their works to him: among them, John W. Duarte, Larry Cooperman, Jonatas Batista-Neto and Luigi Arbolino. His first recording, Guitar Recital (Fiammant Records, 1997), contains works by Scarlatti, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Dyens and others. In September 1998 and October 2000 Classical Guitar Magazine’s music supplement was dedicated to his transcriptions. In October 1999, he was invited by Dorothy Duarte to take part in her husband’s (John Duarte) 80th birthday concert in London. Among Innocentis’ recent engagements are two world premieres:Twelve Studies op. 140 by John Duarte, in the composer’s presence, at the 6th Oatridge International Guitar Festival in Scotland, and Bless Me, Ultima by Larry Cooperman, who was present, at the Guitar Foundation of America International Convention 2001 in San Diego. 

Media Contact:
Mary Brennan
480-965-3587
mary.brennan@asu.edu