Riccardo Ottaviani

Riccardo Ottaviani, Verona 14/07/2000, starts playing guitar at the age of 11. His Journey begins with classical music studies, being his first teacher a lute and classical guitar player. He formally continues to study classical guitar for the entire duration of his high school career, as well as cello, music theory and composition. A couple years after his first approach with the instrument, thanks to a local guitarist, he discovers Blues, falling in love with players like the three Kings, B.B., Freddie and Albert, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton. His love for the genre quickly evolves and expands to other Afro-American styles of music like Funk and R&B, with a particular interest for the '60s and '70s. In 2019, after graduating from High School, he enrolls at Mantova's Lucio Campiani Conservatory, where he has the chance to study the basics of Bebop language, Jazz harmony and composition. These years have been crucial for his development as a musician, digging deeper into the mentioned above styles and expanding his interests towards ethno-Jazz, growing, for example, a deep love for Fela Kuti's Afrobeat and Mulatu Astakte's Ethio-Jazz. Other Black music expressions not necessarily labeled as traditional Jazz, like the mystic world of Dub-Reggae and the sample-based Hip-Hop, have been some of the main subjects of his recent explorations. With a wide panorama of influences and a serious interest for composition, his goal is to develop a personal voice, well based on the tradition but, at the same time, not afraid to take non conventional routes. Currently enrolled at the Parma's Arrigo Boito Conservatory, He's studying with Maestro Vincenzo Mingiardi.