Giacomo Susani is an Italian guitarist; born in Padova in 1995 in a family of important musical traditions, since 2014 he is based and conducts most of his artistic activity in London.
He won numerous awards, achieved recognitions and support to his career among which are remarkable those received from The Julian Bream Trust, The Calleva Foundation, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust (Star Award), Help Musicians UK (Ian Fleming Award), The Worshipful Company of Musicians (Yeoman programme), The Park Lane Group.
In 2016 he was selected by IGF – International Guitar Foundation – Young Artists Platform for a concert tour in the UK and in 2018 by EuroStrings – European Guitar Festival Collaborative which gave him the opportunity, as a 'Young Star', to perform and teach masterclasses in numerous guitar festivals around Europe.
He took part in several international guitar competitions, always achieving notable results: he was awarded 1st Prize at the 2016 London International Guitar Competition (London 2016), at the 19th Ivor Mairants Award and at the David Russell Guitar Prize (London 2017) and he has been an award winner of the VI Concorso Internazionale di chitarra 'Ruggero Chiesa' (Camogli, Italy 2012), Gianni Bergamo Classic Music Award (Lugano, Switzerland 2016), XXI International Competition – Forum Guitar Wien (Wien, Austria 2016), I Guitar Masters International Guitar Competition (Wrøclaw, Poland 2016), XLII Concorso Chitarristico Internazionale di Gargnano (Gargnano, Italy 2017), VII Changsha International Guitar Competition (Changsha, Hunan, China 2018), XXVII Koblenz International Guitar Competition (Koblenz, Germany 2019).
He conducts an intense performing activity as soloist, chamber musician and soloist with an orchestra, playing in prestigious venues in England (The Athenaeum Club, St. Martin in the Fields, King’s Place -Hall One, St James’s Piccadilly among the most recent) and in Europe.
The Polish composer Marek Pasieczny dedicated to him his composition for solo guitar Tate Sonata, which he premiered in London in March 2018.
For the label Stradivarius he recorded two solo albums: Giacomo Susani plays Petrassi, Bach, Tansman, Weiss (2015) and Gebeth. Romantic music for Guitar. Mertz, Regondi (2018), which both received audience acclaim and critic recognition in important musical and guitar reviews (Classical Guitar Magazine, BBC Music, Gendai Guitar, Il Fronimo, Amadeus, American Record Guide).
As well as performing, he successfully works in the field of composition. His output, for guitar solo and with an ensemble, includes: Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra for guitar and orchestra, The Blue Madeleine for solo guitar (dedicated to David Russell), Of Dark Tales for two guitars, Songs of Elegance and Wisdom for soprano and guitar, Quintet for Guitar and String Quartet for guitar and string quartet, these last two being published by Armelin Musica (Padova, Italy) in 2017 and 2018. His compositions have been performed in Italy and abroad and have been positively reviewed by important national and international magazines (This is Classical Guitar, Classical Guitar Magazine, Il Fronimo).
Since 2016 he is artistic director of MoMùs-More Music, a musical association that promotes young classical music artists through the organization of concerts as well as educational events (with a particular focus on the classical guitar); since 2018 he is responsible of the musical production of Barco Teatro, in Padova.
He studied guitar in Italy with Stefano Grondona and in England with Michael Lewin, and graduated from the respective institutions with the following results: 'Diploma V. O. con lode e menzione d’onore' (Conservatorio Arrigo Pedrollo, Vicenza 2008-2013), Bachelor of Music, First Class Degree and Bache Fund Prize (Royal Academy of Music, London 2014-2016), Master of Arts, with Distinction, DipRAM “for an outstanding Final Recital” and Gershon Ellenbogen/Maccabaen Award (Royal Academy of Music, London 2016-2018), Advanced Diploma in Guitar Performance and August Mann Prize (Royal Academy of Music, London 2018-2019).
While attending these institutions, he studied composition starting with Michele Brugnaro in Italy, continuing in England with Stephen Goss and in Switzerland with Dušan Bogdanovic.
He has attended masterclasses with internationally acclaimed artists such as Leo Brouwer, Paul Galbraith, Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Fabio Zanon, obtaining Scholarships and Diplomas of Merit and has had the privilege of working closely with Julian Bream in a series of one to one meetings as part of a 4 year support from The Julian Bream Trust.
Since September 2019 he has been Guitar Teacher at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music in London. As a teacher he holds masterclasses in important musical institutions in Italy and in Europe.
He plays on two instruments, one made by the Spanish maker Domingo Esteso (1926) and one by the English luthier David Rubio (1996). He is a D’Addario Artist since 2018.
(Free recital with retiring collection)