Agustín Barrios, John Fahey, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Atahualpa Yupanqui meet in my brain for little jam session on the Ocho and other lute cordophones.
Renzo Staiano performs professionally on six- and eight-string acoustic and electric guitars, Cuban tres, Andean charango, and other Latin American guitars. As a performer and scholar, his career has thus far taken him to five continents. Renzo first knew he could achieve success through music when, at the age of 17, he won first prize in a local guitar competition sponsored by KMBY, a local radio station. The inspiration born of that initial success carried Renzo to the Musician’s Institute of Technology in Hollywood, and later, to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he graduated in 1997 with top honors. In 2006, he completed his M.A. in Latin American ethnomusicology at University of California at Santa Cruz, specializing in coastal Peruvian guitar performance under the auspices of the prominent ethnomusicologist, John Schechter. Renzo is fluent in Spanish, which has facilitated his musical studies in Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina. For twelve years, he has taught guitar performance, music theory, and music history, teaching both privately and in a university setting. For the past four years, he has developed the curriculum and taught the UCSC summer session course History and Traditions of the Guitar. Renzo studied the classical guitar and Latin American guitar with the acclaimed Turkish guitarist Mesut Özgen and world-renowned Agustin Barrios scholar and performer Richard Stover. Renzo possesses profound knowledge of jazz, blues, funk, pop, European classical, and also a great number Latin American musical genres. He is an active composer and arranger, currently working with his band mates in the world music fusion group Universal Language. In November 2006, Renzo completed a tour of the Middle East Latin rock band, deSol. His work as a composer has recently been featured in the short film, Catalina, released March 2007. For the last two years, Renzo has performed primarily as a soloist, with the imminent release of his a new album—El Ocho vol. 1—or in a large ensemble setting with various local orchestras for musical works such as Joel Ford’s monumental Jazz/Funk/Blues/Reggae opera, The Cannabis Cantata; Phil Collin’s Helen of Egypt; and Kurt Weil’s Three Penny Opera (with the Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra). Renzo’s work as an arranger has been featured on the Fox network’s television show Party of Five. In addition, Renzo has worked with UCSC professor Fredric Lieberman as an expert consultant in various music piracy court cases, and he has transcribed music for Adult Swim’s Home Movies, created by Brendon Small (whose recent show Dethklok Metalocalypse currently enjoys runaway success). Renzo has performed with many accomplished musicians, including members of: Peru Negro, Acoustic Alchemy, Dethklok, The Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra, The Dodos, Savoy Brown, The Doobie Brothers, RadioActive, Michael Franti, and Santana, and he has shared the stage with the likes of Ozomatli, Maxi Priest, and Thomas Mapfumo.
yo man wuts goin on just thought id let u know about berklee
im doin pretty well im ACTUALLY keeping up on my work haha practicing alot i got some gigs with my ensemble lined up in some clubs im gunna try to get some gigs with a few musicians on top of the ensemble ones too
Que pachuka ese Renzo pues este verano que me quedo aqui en Mexico, pero ojala muy pronto pueda ir pal norte pues extraño ala banda un gran abrazo desde las montañas del sureste mexicano. el pachukoatl
You're not mad you big faker. Besides, drugs weren't cool til 7th grade. remember the 'glow of salinas' ? remember when I ate too many mushrooms and my kidney's failed? I think I'm going to be in SC for the 4th of July, wanna get a taco?
Hey Renzo, Its great to hear from you, hope all is well, I cant thank you enough for all that you have taught me. Take care, oh and if you want some free studio time in the near future I am sure we could work that out. Peace
