Cappelli, Marco

Extreme Guitar Project: Music from Downtown NYC

Label: Mode Records Country: USA

During May and June 2002, Italian guitarist Marco Cappelli spent time in New York City. While there, Cappelli became involved with the NYC avant-garde scene - internationally known as Downtown Music - in which composers / improvisers coming from avant-garde jazz, experimental rock, as well as from academic music, created a common musical language. These experiences and influences inspired Cappelli to a new idea and concept: to make a "musical photograph" of the Downtown musical scene through the commission of guitar pieces. And so, the concept of "extreme guitar" was born. Inspired by both the unusual possibilities of Cappelli's guitar playing as well as the proposal to use a mixture of writing techniques (from rigorous written structures to free improvisation), 10 leading Downtown composers wrote for him. These works receive their first recordings here. For the Extreme Guitar Project, Cappelli uses an amplified classical guitar modified with the addition of 8 sympathetic strings, which enable the guitar to control MIDI devices.

Marco Cappelli studied at the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia in Rome and the Musik Akademie in Basel (with Oscar Ghiglia), and then began a career as performing the traditional solo guitar repertoire as well as 20th century classics (Britten, Berio, Henze, Scelsi, etc.). For years he has been a protagonist to create a bridge between traditional contemporary repertoire and the most daring experimentation - working in classic and contemporary music, jazz festivals and improvisations, and as a soloist or in different combinations of ensembles. In addition to performing, he teaches at the Conservatorio V. Bellini in Palermo and as "guest professor" at several prestigious schools such as the Juilliard School and NYU in New York City and the DIM in Mexico City.