Giovanni Piacentini
Latin Grammy-Nominated Classical Guitarist & Composer

Sandeep Kulkarni (00:59.118) Welcome, everyone. Today's guest is Giovanni Piacentini—a composer, guitarist, educator, and advocate for the music of others. His work bridges classical tradition and contemporary voice, earning international acclaim and a 2025 Latin Grammy nomination for his guitar concerto recorded by Eliot Fisk. Today, we explore craft, lineage, and what it means to create music that carries cultural memory forward. Welcome, Giovanni, to The Artist Conversation, the Sanctuary of Frozen Souls podcast.

Giovanni Piacentini Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

Sandeep Kulkarni We are so happy to have you. As Suraaj and I were researching your profile, I went through your entire website—it was amazing to explore your body of work. Your music has been described as "tiny, winsome worlds," almost like moving through a gallery of paintings. When you sit down to compose, do you begin with an image, an emotion, or just pure sound?

Giovanni Piacentini (02:11.34) Great question. I have a very visual way of thinking about music. I believe that quote you read was from way back when I made an album called Chiaroscuro, which is actually a technique used in the visual arts. My mother is a painter. She doesn't paint as much these days, but she was very talented. Growing up around the visual arts, music always felt highly visual to me. A lot of the time when I write music, I think of sound in terms of color. Ever since I was a little kid, I would see these visions in my mind that somehow made sense musically.

It sounds strange to describe, but I have a strong visual sense of sound. With Chiaroscuro, I wanted to challenge myself to create an aural illusion that mirrored the optical illusion this painting technique plays when you look at a fresco or a ceiling painting.

Sandeep Kulkarni What does chiaroscuro translate to in English?

Giovanni Piacentini (04:24.142) It literally translates to "light and shadow" or "light and dark" (chiaro meaning light, oscuro meaning dark). In Italian, it’s compressed into one word: chiaroscuro. It’s an artistic contrast, much like the term pianoforte. It was a highly popular technique pioneered during the Renaissance and championed by masters like Caravaggio to create dramatic depth and a grand perspective of three-dimensional space on a flat canvas.

I wanted to see if I could achieve that exact same depth sonically. The classical guitar turned out to be the perfect instrument for that exploration because of its incredibly nuanced articulations. Depending on your right-hand placement and attack, you can summon entire contrasting worlds of timbre from it.

Suraaj Parab Giovanni, you are both a composer and a performer—two very distinct internal roles. Which one feels more vulnerable to you, and which one feels more grounding?

Giovanni Piacentini That’s an interesting question; I’ve never been asked that before. Both roles make me feel vulnerable, but in slightly different ways. When I wear the performer hat, the vulnerability operates at a more surface, immediate level: Am I going to perform well enough tonight? Are mistakes going to happen? Those performance insecurities naturally bubble up, even though they become less paralyzing as the years pass.

When I wear the composer's hat, the vulnerability is far deeper. It forces core existential questions: What am I truly trying to say? Is the music I am writing worthy of being listened to? As a composer, you want to write something powerful enough to outlive you and take on a life of its own. When a piece of music leaves your hands and other artists begin to interpret and perform it across the world, it feels very much like watching a child grow up, travel, and have its own independent life experience.

Historically, these two roles were not separated. As time has gone on, music has become highly specialized. When I teach music appreciation, we cover how in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, being a composer and a performer was exactly one and the same. In antiquity, poets and musicians were the same identity. Only recently have we compartmentalized these categories. I try to make them feel like the same thing—I want my practical guitar performance to inform my orchestral composition, and vice versa. This is exactly why I write so much music for the guitar; I blend the two roles entirely.

Suraaj Parab You were born and raised in Mexico, and your mother was a visual artist. Was the guitar your absolute first choice, or did your journey begin elsewhere before you discovered your true love for the classical guitar?

Giovanni Piacentini (08:53.12) It was always music, and it was always the guitar. I jokingly tell people that I suffer from Stockholm syndrome because I’ve been held completely hostage by the guitar all my life, and eventually fell completely in love with my captor!

When I was eight or nine years old, my grandmother had a laserdisc player. I don't know if you guys remember that technology—it predates the modern DVD and was essentially a massive, giant CD. She had a laserdisc of the great Spanish maestro Andrés Segovia performing a live concert inside the Palace of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. It is an incredibly magical Moorish palace. I popped that laserdisc in, sat down to watch it, and something happened that I still cannot fully put into words.

I instantly knew that playing the guitar was my true calling. I felt an internal conviction so powerful that I told my parents I needed a guitar. They bought me a cheap beginner instrument, and I played that thing until my fingers literally bled. I practiced so much that my fingertips turned green from the bronze wrapped around the low strings!

When my father saw that level of absolute obsession, he realized I was serious. They bought me a slightly better instrument and got me a classical instructor.

The immediate sound of the guitar completely captured me. I play piano terribly, but I have to use it functional-style for music theory teaching and score arranging. No other instrument has ever grabbed me the way the guitar does. It’s crazy to think that after more than three decades of playing, every single time I pick it up, I still discover new fingerings, textures, and capabilities. It’s a love-hate relationship, as any deep relationship is, but mostly pure love.

Funnily enough, a fact that not many people know is that I am mostly self-taught. I had that initial instructor for a few months to show me the absolute rudiments of hand technique, but after that, I was completely on my own. I became pathologically obsessed. I didn't have many friends during my teenage years because I would rather isolate myself in my bedroom for hours playing guitar.

Suraaj Parab (12:23.904) I can deeply relate to that calloused fingertip phase! I started my musical journey on the guitar as well, and my father used to tell me: "First your calluses will turn red, then they will turn black, and finally they will turn green. Until your fingertips turn green, don't consider yourself a real guitarist!"

Giovanni Piacentini Exactly! That is the absolute truth.

Suraaj Parab While my current work focuses on other areas, I love playing flamenco music. I keep a Córdoba Gipsy Kings Signature Series nylon-string guitar at home to play flamenco styles.

Giovanni Piacentini Amazing! Flamenco played a massive role in my childhood as well. My mother is Mexican but of direct Spanish descent, so Flamenco music was constantly playing around our house. When I eventually discovered Paco de Lucía and the other great historical flamenco masters, I became totally obsessed. I can "fake" a bit of flamenco technique, but I don't consider myself a true flamenco player. I know actual flamenco virtuosos, and the way those artists execute rhythm is unbelievable.

Suraaj Parab A lot of casual listeners don’t realize that a traditional classical guitar and a true flamenco guitar are physically built completely differently. Could you explain those key structural differences from your perspective?

Giovanni Piacentini (14:06.83) Absolutely, you are spot on. To the layperson, they are lumped together under the generic umbrella term "Spanish guitar," assuming the instruments Segovia and Paco de Lucía played were identical. They are actually fundamentally different tools.

[Image comparing classical guitar thick body vs flamenco guitar thin body and tap plates]

A true flamenco guitar has a noticeably thinner body depth compared to a classical guitar, which generates a bright, punchy, and highly metallic sound with immediate decay. The technical execution and historic purpose of the two instruments are also widely different. Before Paco de Lucía beautifully transformed the flamenco guitar into a world-touring solo concert instrument, its historic role was strictly to accompany traditional singing (cante) and dancing (baile).

Because of that heritage, the flamenco guitarist functions essentially like a percussionist or a drummer. The flamenco right-hand technique features aggressive percussive elements—like the golpe, where you physically strike the wooden tap plate (golpeador) with your ring finger or knuckles while executing rasgueado strumming. In flamenco, rhythm (compás) is absolute God.

Conversely, the classical guitar focuses heavily on pure, pristine tone production, lyrical phrasing, and complex polyphonic voices. Classical guitarists seek to eliminate string buzz entirely, whereas flamenco players embrace low string action specifically because the resulting fret buzz adds a raw, percussive sizzle to the attack.

Suraaj Parab (16:27.502) I once heard a historical account that the physical setup of flamenco guitar action and the invention of the cajón drum evolved out of colonial environments where marginalized musicians were stripped of their traditional drums. They adapted the guitar to function as their primary percussion box. In technical terms, classical players despise fret buzz, but flamenco players view that string buzz as the original, organic acoustic version of guitar distortion!

Giovanni Piacentini That is a brilliant way of looking at it! Flamenco absolutely holds a naturally distorted, aggressive acoustic bite, especially when you dig into the lower strings. The classical player prioritizes continuous lyrical lines, but both approaches have immense value.

My personal right-hand technique has evolved into a bit of a hybrid. My foundations are firmly rooted in classical mechanics, but I have integrated rapid percussive right-hand elements that I absorbed from watching flamenco players. Ultimately, the goal of any guitarist is to uncover their own unique vocal signature so that the moment you strike a chord, you sound unmistakably like yourself.

Sandeep Kulkarni Thank you for explaining that architectural difference so beautifully. You have spent your career honoring the elite classical tradition while composing in a distinct, contemporary voice. How do you personally define innovation without losing your anchor to historical lineage?

Giovanni Piacentini (18:02.198) This might sound strange, but the honest answer is that I don’t think about innovation at all anymore. Early in my career, I was deeply worried about external labels—striving to be innovative, modern, and relevant within the academy. But I quickly realized those worries were entirely driven by external anxieties regarding how critics or peers would judge my scores. I didn't want my work to be dismissed as antiquated or overly simplistic, but writing music from a place of fear felt entirely dishonest.

I completely let go of that external worry. Now, I strictly write music that emotionally moves me and surprises me. When I am reviewing a draft and a sudden modulation or structural shift genuinely surprises me, that is my indicator that the piece is authentic.

It is much easier said than done, but my focus is simply on composing powerful music that makes human beings feel something profound. Listeners won't remember how cerebral, avant-garde, or mathematically sophisticated your counterpoint was; they will remember exactly how the music made them feel.

I have friends in Europe who write exceptionally complex, avant-garde serial music, which is highly fashionable in academia. I jokingly tell people that I will never win classical composition competitions in Europe because my scores are far too lyrical, digestible, and tonally anchored. But I could not care less. I write from an authentic space to trigger an honest emotional response.

Sandeep Kulkarni Do you find that up-and-coming student composers frequently get trapped in that cycle of chasing external validation and academic prestige?

Giovanni Piacentini (21:01.102) Oh, absolutely. Working within academia, I witness it constantly. I know brilliantly talented young composers who have profound things to say, but they trap their authentic voices within overly complex academic styles simply because they are chasing institutional prestige and validation.

I urge my students to break out of that echo chamber. It is deeply disempowering and detrimental to your craft. If you create something that is entirely honest to who you are, executed from a place of raw authenticity, an audience will inevitably find it.

Sandeep Kulkarni I completely agree. I am a singer-songwriter, and my band writes alternative indie-rock tracks sung in Indian languages. Suraaj and I collaborate extensively on the arrangements. Our tracks aren't designed to please everyone or chase commercial trends; they come straight from the heart. We focus on exactly what we want to project as a band.

In my previous career, I taught digital animation, visual effects, and game design. I always gave my students the exact same advice: stop trying to be something you are not just to impress an industry portfolio checker. Be yourself. It takes a long time and a lot of life experience to fully absorb that truth.

Giovanni Piacentini It takes a lot of growing up. You have to live through significant failures to arrive at that realization. I recently listened to an insightful podcast where the guest discussed raising children. Parents frequently tell their kids, "You can be absolutely anything you want to be in this world." While well-intentioned, that is actually highly dangerous advice because it isn't true. You cannot be anything you want to be.

The truly wise advice to hand to a child is: "You must be completely yourself. Discover exactly who you are structurally, and then maximize that unique identity to its absolute fullest potential."

Life is essentially an unfolding quest to find yourself. The more you strip away external definitions, the more at ease you become with your capabilities. In music, that translation manifests as your unique artistic voice. Think of iconic players like Eddie Van Halen. It didn't matter what random guitar or amplifier rig he picked up; the second he touched the strings, it sounded unmistakably like Eddie Van Halen because his physical voice was absolute.

The guitarist Nuno Bettencourt once shared a revelatory story about hanging out with Eddie Van Halen. Eddie handed Nuno his personal signature guitar, running through his exact live amplifier rig. Nuno expected to suddenly sound exactly like EVH, but the moment he started playing Eddie's exact setup, it sounded completely like Nuno Bettencourt, not Eddie. It was a profound reminder that your individual tone lives in your own fingers and identity.

Suraaj Parab (26:55.842) What you just said reminds me of a beautiful passage by the great philosopher and author Kahlil Gibran in The Prophet. He wrote that our children come through us, but not from us, and that every single soul enters this nature holding its own unique, divine identity. Because of the intense conditioning of societal pressure, we frequently lose sight of our true selves. The ultimate quest of an artistic life is to peel back those layers, discover your inner self, and follow it fiercely.

Giovanni Piacentini Yes, Gibran's The Prophet is one of the greatest books ever written. You are entirely right. Every single day, the matrix of society is actively trying to sculpt you into an standardized object that you are not. It forces endless pressures to conform, make money, and look a certain way, which turns people into hollow versions of themselves. It’s no wonder so many people feel unfulfilled; they aren't realizing their unique potential.

Suraaj Parab Your career spans university classrooms, elite performance halls, and international recording studios like Abbey Road in London. Across all of these diverse environments, where do you feel the most completely honest, naked version of yourself shows up?

Giovanni Piacentini (28:21.934) Right inside this room you see behind me—I call it my cave. It’s my ultimate zen space. It isn't a traditional "man cave" with whiskey bottles; it’s a quiet sanctuary where I sit alone to write scores from scratch. When I am at the piano or tracking ideas here, going from zero to one, I connect directly with that pure childhood curiosity. That is where I am at my most vulnerable and honest.

Occasionally, I touch that exact same magical connection while performing live on stage. It doesn't happen every single concert, but when the energetic circuit between the guitar, the score, and the audience clicks into place, it is completely transcendent. But day-to-day, my truest self lives right here in the cave, crafting music out of nothing.

Sandeep Kulkarni You have collaborated with legendary classical masters like the virtuoso Eliot Fisk. What does it teach you about your own craft when a historical performer interprets a concerto that you poured your deep personal emotions into?

Giovanni Piacentini It is an honor entirely beyond words. To be completely honest, it was an achievement so far-fetched that I hadn't even dared to dream it could happen. Watching a certified genius like Eliot Fisk dedicate an immense, exhaustive amount of hard work to mastering my guitar concerto was indescribable. His level of obsessive passion and responsibility toward my score is one of the greatest highlights of my entire life.

Eliot took the solo guitar part to a completely elevated level. I joke that he essentially co-composed the solo fingerings because his technical adjustments maximized the concerto's impact. I experienced a similar thrill collaborating with the brilliant violinist Tim Fain when I composed a piece for him.

When you are isolated in your little cave working with notation software playbacks, you hold a highly specific internal vision of how the piece should sound. But when you hand that manuscript to a legend like Eliot, they breathe a completely unexpected dimension into the frequencies. Watching other masters expand upon the ideas I brought to life is my absolute favorite part of this entire profession.

Sandeep Kulkarni (33:01.996) Collaborating with legendary performers of that caliber must provide a massive masterclass in execution and professionalism.

Giovanni Piacentini It teaches you everything. His level of dedication, technical obsession, and deep respect for the score is unbelievable. Eliot cares so intensely about the music that I occasionally felt he cared more about my concerto than I did! I would receive detailed text messages from him at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning analyzing a specific F-sharp in measure 87, discussing how a change in string articulation would optimize the tone. It was mind-blowing.

Writing for Eliot Fisk was like being handed the keys to a high-performance Ferrari—I made sure to maximize every ounce of that mechanical capability, and he pushed it straight into sixth, seventh, and eighth gear. I am thrilled that our recorded collaboration earned a Latin Grammy nomination.

Suraaj Parab Earning a Latin Grammy nomination for a classical guitar concerto is a historic milestone for Latin American contemporary classical music. What did that moment of global recognition mean to you personally?

Giovanni Piacentini (35:34.22) I was profoundly moved and honored, especially since it was entirely unexpected. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't even watching the live nomination broadcasts that morning because I was far too nervous. I decided to brush it off and let whatever happens, happen. I was driving my daughters to school when my phone lit up with a text message from an unknown number saying, "Congratulations, maestro!"

I pulled over to check the official listings and saw our concerto nominated. It was incredibly moving. The Latin Grammy voting process is highly democratic, and I participated actively as a voting member across several categories during the cycle. Our album was exceptionally strong, featuring a gorgeous symphony by my mentor, the brilliant composer Ian Krouse. I knew the record had the weight to make waves, but landing the actual nomination was a beautiful milestone. I took my entire family to the nominee ceremonies in Las Vegas, and it was an unforgettable, joyous experience that I will always deeply cherish.

Sandeep Kulkarni You mentioned recording your orchestral movements inside Studio One and Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios in London. That space carries an immense amount of historical weight. Did tracking inside those physical rooms alter how you listen to your own music or how you perceive acoustic silence?

Giovanni Piacentini (38:53.006) It made me hyper-aware of how a physical environment functions as an active participant in a recording. When I sat in the control room listening to the live orchestra tracking in Studio One, the moment the final note decayed into absolute silence, I could instantly recognize the acoustic sonic signature of that room from the legendary historical albums recorded there—from the Beatles onward.

Every room holds its own distinct acoustic fingerprint, which is what makes Abbey Road completely magical. Now, I explicitly factor environmental acoustic reflections into my arranging. The room itself functioned exactly like an additional member of the band on that record.

Sandeep Kulkarni In our independent indie-rock productions, we obviously don't have the luxury of tracking inside Abbey Road daily, but digital modeling technology has become incredible. We utilize dedicated room-emulation plugins from Sound City Studios and Abbey Road to process our raw drum tracks and simulate those iconic spatial dimensions.

Giovanni Piacentini It’s amazing that engineers can digitally capture the impulse responses of those physical rooms and make those spaces accessible to independent creators worldwide who might never have the physical opportunity to record at Abbey Road. I think that creative tech is wonderful.

Sandeep Kulkarni I am a total geek when it comes to recording gear. I use a high-end modeling microphone in my studio that can accurately emulate 38 legendary vintage microphones. I can track my vocals cleanly, open my digital audio workstation (DAW), and seamlessly swap microphone models during post-production to see whether a vintage tube mic or a dynamic capsule balances the track better without committing during the session.

Giovanni Piacentini (42:28.642) That technology is spectacular. Creators should absolutely utilize it to its fullest potential. While it can't replicate the visceral emotional experience of physically sitting inside those historic tracking rooms, sonically it opens incredible doors.

Suraaj Parab You have dedicated a significant portion of your career to university teaching and mentorship. What core responsibility do you feel toward guiding the next generation of musicians, not just technically, but spiritually?

Giovanni Piacentini I never originally set out to be a university professor; it happened entirely organically along my path. Initially, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy classroom lectures or hold the patience for it. But now, I find mentorship deeply fulfilling. It directly informs my composition and live performances.

I teach complex music theory alongside core music appreciation classes. Teaching music appreciation forces me to regularly revisit legendary historical masterpieces that I don't normally have time to listen to in my daily life, which allows me to continuously relive that genius.

There is a brilliant old Chinese proverb stating that the teacher and the student together create the actual learning. When you are forced to break down a musical subject to a room of students, you are forced to master that material on a molecular level. My students constantly blow my mind with their insights; out of nowhere, a student will hand me an unconventional question that completely shakes the philosophical foundation of a topic I thought I knew perfectly. It gifts me with entirely fresh perspectives.

Teaching is a beautiful, fluid art form. I have found a perfect sweet spot where my university lectures, my acoustic performances, and my orchestral compositions form a continuous, cyclical loop where each element feeds the other.

Sandeep Kulkarni I can totally relate to that. Teaching requires a massive amount of internal patience, and it truly is a noble art form. I miss that deep instructional connection with students. Looking ahead, Giovanni, what dimension of your unique artistic voice feels like it is still actively unfolding? What territory haven't you fully explored yet?

Giovanni Piacentini (47:05.294) One of my ultimate, long-held dreams is to compose a full-scale opera. I am deeply enamored by opera because it serves as the ultimate realization of the Wagnerian concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk—the total, comprehensive artwork where poetry, visual stage design, acting, and grand orchestration fuse into a single medium. I am continuously hunting for the definitive, compelling story that I want to tell through that medium.

Furthermore, I want to keep pushing my boundaries by composing more orchestral concerti featured around specific instruments, which I find highly appealing. At the same time, I am dedicated to expanding the contemporary repertoire for the solo classical guitar. I am currently finalizing a specialized chamber work written for solo guitar and a string quartet, which is surprisingly an exceptionally rare instrumentation in classical literature.

I am also actively preparing to fly to Mexico this March to personally perform my own guitar concerto live with the orchestra. I am hyper-nervous and incredibly excited at the same time, so I am practicing constantly to get my fingers completely green again, Suraaj!

Suraaj Parab (49:29.9) Hearing you discuss your dream of writing an opera reminds me of our own collaborative journey. A few years ago, I composed an original neoclassical piece framed around traditional Italian opera elements called "Ascolto," and I forced Sandeep to learn the correct Italian phonetics to track the lead operatic vocals!

Sandeep Kulkarni I have been taking classical vocal lessons recently, and my coaches kept pulling me to learn traditional arias because of my baritone range. I was highly hesitant, but Suraaj arrived with this dramatic neoclassical instrumental track and insisted I sing it in operatic Italian. I didn't speak a word of the language, but I map out my lyrics carefully. We hired an Italian lyricist to draft the libretto, and she recorded a guide track. I sat down with my Sicilian colleague to master the mouth shapes, and we recorded it right here. It was a wild experience executing a vocal style I had never attempted before.

Giovanni Piacentini (51:22.19) That is brilliant! I would absolutely love to hear that track. Please share it with me.

Suraaj Parab We will absolutely send it over to you after this session. My personal musical inspirations grew out of listening to masters like Yanni, so composing for full string orchestras is a lifelong target for me. One day, the three of us must collaborate on a hybrid piece together.

Giovanni, thank you so much for joining us today. We deeply appreciate the profound thoughtfulness, openness, and care you bring to your compositions and mentorship.

Giovanni Piacentini Thank you very much for inviting me. It has been an absolute pleasure connecting with you both. I love discussing the architecture of music, and I look forward to continuing this conversation down the road.

Sandeep Kulkarni This dialogue is a powerful reminder that music transcends pure physical sound waves—it is an act of deep listening, historical memory, and passing a meaningful cultural torch forward to the future. It was a privilege speaking with you.

Giovanni Piacentini Likewise. I deeply appreciate you guys. I hope to talk to you again soon.

Suraaj Parab To our global audience listening to us today, thank you for sharing this space with us. If Giovanni's journey resonated with you, please share this episode with a fellow music lover. Explore his Latin Grammy-nominated catalog on his official website and follow his ongoing artistic updates on Instagram. Tune in to our past episodes, join our creative creator community on Discord, and we will see you all on the next edition of The Artist Conversation. Thank you!

Sandeep Kulkarni (53:59.246) Thanks a lot!