Lucio Amanti

Lucio Franco Amanti (born November 14, 1977) is an Italian cellist and composer. Amanti´s music is characterized by the integration of jazz and pop idiom into classical music forms.

Life and career

Amanti was born in Montreal (Canada) to Italian Parents that shortly after his birth decided to move back to Italy. There, Amanti took his first piano lesson age 4 and cello (age 8) and age 9, he started his studies first in cello and later Composition at the “San Pietro a Majella” Conservatory. All through his ten years studies he performed as soloist and with orchestra for the Italian national broadcast (Italian “Rai”) and in venues such as Teatro San Carlo, S. William Walton´s foundation and the Ravello Festival. As an active composer, Amanti had his first experience age 19 when he became part of the Composer´s workshop (Italian “Bottega di Composizione”): a group of composition students founded by celebrated Italian composer Roberto De Simone which works were many times performed in the major theaters in Italy. In 2002, the legendary cellist Janos Starker invited Amanti to study with him at the Indiana University School of music in Bloomington USA. After two years studies, due to his newly discovered passion for improvisation, Amanti decided to deepen his curriculum studying Composition, jazz and improvisation with the composer, and jazz pedagogue, Dr. David Baker (composer).