Elena Zucchini
“Zucchini is a versatile and imaginative performer, the elegance of her structured programme showed off her great style and virtuosity.” Graham Wade, Classical Guitar Magazine
“An ideal performer in which musical intelligence and technique go hand in hand at a range of heights that we are rarely privileged to know and enjoy in life. She lets us hear an unlimited guitar, where only the music is the absolute owner of our time and space.” Eduardo Martín
Graduated in 2010 with honours from a Master of Arts from one of the most prestigious academies in the world, the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel, in Switzerland. Elena has been described by Alberto Ponce as “the future world star of classical guitar”.
She began her career in 2011 focusing her repertoire on Italian composers and contemporary music. Her first album included works by Dyens, Scarlatti, Giuliani, Petrassi and Davidovsky.
Her passion for the guitar began as a child in Tuscany, Italy, listening to her first teacher, her uncle Marco Zucchini, play classical and flamenco music. Her love affair with this instrument led her to study at the conservatories of Perugia and Fermo, with Maestro Claudio Marcotulli. There she was awarded with numerous prizes and successfully enrolled in several masterclasses, playing before world-renowned guitarists such as David Russell, Pavel Steidl, Alberto Ponce, Marco Socias, Jorge Cardoso, Roland Dyens, Fabio Zanon, Raphaella Smiths. She later moved to Basel to perfect her skills with Maestro Stephan Schmidt.
From 2010 to 2015 Elena was a music producer for the Draft Audio Production label, collaborating with international artists such as John Williams, Manchester Camerata, Les Violons du Roy and Marc-Andre Hamelin, Julian Lloyd Webber, the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra and the Clare College Choir of Cambridge.
Together with English flutist Claire Overbury (Rouge Duo), Elena has been invited twice to perform at the British Embassy in Jerusalem on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday.
With the same duo and as a soloist, Elena has given concerts for the last nine years for the English Cruise Lines P&O and Cunard.
Elena has collaborated in duo with Cuban artists such as percussionist Hammadi Rencurrell Valdés and singer Reinaldo Crespo Ricart and is part of the Obdara trio with Maestro Walfrido Dominguez (guitar) and Bartolomé Garcia-Plata (clarinet). Elena is a regular guest at various guitar festivals such as the Arbeláez Guitar Camp in Colombia, the last two editions of the Identidades Guitar Festival in Cuba, the Festival delle due città di Treviso in Italy and the Johan Fostier Guitar Festival in Belgium and as a visiting professor at the Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts in the Netherlands.
She has also been invited to play in a documentary about Maestro Antonio Lauro and in a concert dedicated to the career of Maestro Leo Brower in London, playing under the direction of the Maestro himself.
Elena currently lives in London, where she also teaches as a guitar teacher at Sussex House School.
His most recent projects include a collaboration with Cuban composer Walfrido Dominguez culminating in the recording of an album of all his unpublished solo works, a concert tour between Spain and France plus the world premiere and recording of Maestro Dominguez’s concertos for guitar and orchestra dedicated to the orishas Oshun and Oshosi.
admira: When did you get started in music?
Elena: I started playing guitar as a child with my uncle Marco who was my teacher for many years. I chose the guitar for him, because I loved watching and listening to him play and I wanted to be like my uncle.
admira: What do you look for in the sound of the guitar?
Elena: Generally a deep and round sound. But what makes the guitar special and unique is its versatility and the possibility of finding many nuances, colors and effects.
admira: What made you choose the admira Crossover, Artesanía Series?
Elena: I liked the idea of having a slightly different guitar that sounds great as it is and that can also be quickly amplified when needed.
admira: Looking to the future… What would be your ideal guitar that doesn’t exist yet?
Elena: A guitar that has a rich, round and dark sound and many nuances. That also has a good volume but at the same time “sounds like a guitar” and doesn’t sound artificial.
admira: Tell us, what plans do you have on the horizon?
Elena: I continue my collaboration with the Cuban composer Walfrido Dominguez who is preparing our third concert for guitar and orchestra plus a program of music for guitar and voice. I am also working on a new project for guitar, percussion and voice.
