There was a meeting this morning in the Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia between the Mayor of Barga, Caterina Campani, Gabriele Bombardi – who repairs and restores ancient and modern musical instruments and who recently opened a new studio workshop at Porte Reale and Louis Siciliano – the Jazz and World-Music composer, piano and synth performer, sound engineer and music producer.
They are planning a series of events in Barga this summer based around music and just one look at the curriculum vitae of Louis Siciliano should give a good idea of the high level of events that could be on the cards for the city.
Louis Siciliano
Siciliano produced, composed, orchestrated, conducted and mixed soundtracks for feature film productions, TV commercials, TV movies, theater shows, musicals and opera. His music production as recording artist encompasses styles including modern jazz, electronic music, contemporary symphonic music, opera, post rock, traditional Latin music, Celtic and classical Indian music.
He was introduced to the music of American jazz greats from an early age. At 7 years old, he started his musical education at a conservatory, studying composition, orchestra conducting, piano, organ, classical guitar, choir conducting, electronic music, and computer music. He quickly became a collaborator and assistant to Antonio De Santis, a pioneer of electronic music and co-founder of IRCAM in Paris. At 16, he made his debut as a professional orchestra conductor. He also deepened his understanding of the musical tradition of the Vesuvius region, working with prominent figures in popular music such as Giovanni Coffarelli and Tonino O’Stock.
Thanks to his background, Louis soon began working as a producer and sound engineer for Roberto De Simone and Media Aetas Teatro, producing albums for many tammurriata-related groups and even creating a pioneering album with the Rom people of Vesuvius. During his conservatory studies, he began performing in Naples at Dino Luglio’s venues, frequented by musicians and cultural figures such as Pino Daniele, James Senese, Tony Esposito,
In the 1990s, Louis Siciliano moved to the Netherlands where he completed his studies at the Groningen Conservatory. He then honed his skills at the Paris Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique with Gerard Grisey, at the IRCAM in Paris, and at New York University where he earned a Master’s in Music Technology with Robert Rowe. He also graduated with honors from the Recording Academy in San Francisco, studying under the Beatles’ sound engineer, Peter Miller.
Louis further studied Jazz harmony and arrangement at the Berklee College of Music in Boston with Larry Monroe and quickly advanced his training through his interactions with guitarists Mick Goodrick and Joe Diorio.
During his time in New York in the 1990s, Louis worked as a performer in various groups and bands ranging from Jazz (Frankie Dee and his Big Band, a historic collaborator of Duke Ellington) to Latin music and avant-garde. With the help of Tony Ferro, Paul Anka’s manager, he began working as an arranger, music programmer, and sound designer at Studio 78/88 in Queens, a hub of the New York hip hop scene. He formed relationships with artists such as Run DMC, Tupac, Masta Ace, Group Home, and figures such as Diana Ross.
A few years later, Louis Siciliano landed a job at Englewood Studios with producer Dae Bennett. Here, he encountered legends like Michael Jackson and Tony Bennett and became part of the Italian Legacy of Music Producers along with Phil Ramone, Tony Maserati, and Tony Mottola. He rubbed shoulders with notable figures such as Chuck Ainlay (producer of Dire Straits), sound engineer Bruce Swedien (Michael Jackson, Santana), and Neil Dorfsman (producer of Bruce Springsteen), who later selected him as a Grammy Awards jury member.
During this productive time, Louis Siciliano met Alan Parsons and figures like Akira Fukada, director of NHK Recording Studios in Tokyo, and began producing and mixing music in 5.1 Surround sound. He was even named Protools Surround Guru by Digidesign in the early 2000s.
Attending New York University allowed Louis to meet numerous independent directors and start his career as a film score composer. This led him to work with several Italian film directors, including Salvatores, Oldoini, Colella, Cattani, Aronadio, and Assisi, on over 35 films. He won various awards, including the Nastro D’Argento in 2005 for his work on the soundtrack of “La Febbre” by Alessandro D’Alatri, and twice the award for Best Composer from the Italian Federation of Essay Cinemas at the Venice Film Festival in 2010.
During one of his stops in Los Angeles, Louis Siciliano met Wayne Shorter, with whom he experimented with the revolutionary musical language MUMEX (Music Multiverse Exploration – A New Cosmology of Sound).
Thanks to this knowledge, Louis Siciliano came into contact with the world of jazz and African American music names: Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones.
For years now, Louis Siciliano has been dividing his time between the United States, UK, Italy, Poland, and India. It was in India that Louis became part of the Banaras Gharana, the caste of musicians from Varanasi on the Ganges, through his study of the Shehnai in the mid-1990s with Ustad Ali Abbas Khan, nephew of the legendary Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Sarangi with Pandit Kanhaiyalal Mishra, and the ancient Dhrupad singing with Ustad Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar.
Louis Siciliano has a deep friendship with Wayne Shorter that has greatly influenced his life and music. In 2022, he received 4 INDIESHARK Awards as a representative of the new sound of Global Jazz in the United States. That same year, with the help of critic and musicologist Renzo Cresti, Louis recorded his new album, ANCIENT COSMIC TRUTH – A Suite in 4 Movements, at Forward Studios in Rome, through a collaboration with producer Renato Marengo. As a performer and continuation of the Napule’s Power musical movement, Louis frequently performs at major festivals and theatres around the world. – He can be hear on spotify here
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C’è stata una riunione questa mattina nel Palazzo Pancrazi a Barga Vecchia tra il Sindaco di Barga, Caterina Campani, Gabriele Bombardi – che ripara e restaura strumenti musicali antichi e moderni e che ha recentemente aperto un nuovo studio-officina a Porte Reale – e Louis Siciliano – il compositore di Jazz e World-Music, esecutore di piano e synth, ingegnere del suono e produttore musicale.
Stanno pianificando una serie di eventi a Barga quest’estate incentrati sulla musica e basta un’occhiata al curriculum vitae di Louis Siciliano per avere un’idea del livello elevato di eventi che potrebbero essere in programma per la città.
