Viola Stefano

Guitar

Maestro Stefano Viola was born in 1960. His parents were both musicians. After brief experiences with the accordion and the piano, Viola had his first encounter with the guitar at only twelve, when his father began giving him lessons. He was fascinated by the instrument, and at only eighteen he graduated at the Conservatoire with full marks and honours.

After that, he spent four years in Milan, studying under Maestro Ruggero Chiesa and attending high specialization courses held by Oscar Ghiglia in Gargnano (Lombardy, Italy) and the Musical Academy Chigiana in Siena.

He held solo and orchestra concerts in and outside Italy, winning prestigious national and international competitions (in Trieste, “Nicola Fago” in Taranto, “Fernando Sor” in Rome, “City of Alessandria”, “Mauro Giuliani” in Bari, etc.). He was also finalist at the “Andres Segovia” International Competition in Palma de Mallorca (Spain).

He soon began teaching at the State Conservatoires in Venice, Trieste, Rovigo, Perugia, Modena, Bologna, Bari, Castelfranco Veneto (near Treviso) and Udine, where he now holds the chair of guitar.

He is currently the artistic director of Guitar Center "El Maestro" in Treviso (Italy), www.elmaestro.it

His students have won more than two hundred awards in the most important national and international competitions: among others there are First Prize Awards in the competitions “Fernando Sor” (Rome), “Pittaluga” (Alessandria, Piedmont), “Julian Arcas” (Almería, Spain), “Francisco Tárrega” (Benicàssim, Spain), “Castelnuovo-Tedesco” (Parma), “Benvenuto Terzi” (Bergamo), “Enrico Mercatali” (Gorizia), “Rospigliosi” (Lamporecchio, Tuscany) and Sernancelhe (Portugal). These achievements make Maestro Viola one of the most important Conservatoire teachers of his generation.

For many years he has been committing himself to studying all technical and mechanical aspects of guitar playing. He has also been invited to hold conferences and Master-class courses in several guitar festivals across Italy, as well as in Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Austria and Spain. Some of his contributions have been published in the journal Il Fronimo (Milan).

He developed and coordinated an important research project funded by the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, called “Postural and functional biomechanical analysis of a guitarist’s body”, in which both the Conservatoire and the University of Udine (in particular the Sport Science Department) were involved. The project led to the publication of a DVD npw in attachment with a very interesting book titled “Guide to methodological and postural analysis in basic guitar teaching” published by “Guitart” edition.

Viola wrote two volumes on guitar playing techniques (Scales and Legatos), published by the publishing house Edizioni Musicali Sinfonica. He also collaborated in revising and editing two collections of studies by Sor and Giuliani, published by the same house.

In 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2014 he won the “Rospigliosi Award for Didactics”.

The Scientific Committee of the 25th International Guitar Convention gave it the Golden Guitar 2020 for teaching.

Details