• Biography                                                                                                                                

OSCAR DEL BARBA was born in Brescia in 1968. He qualified as a pianist with full marks at Brescia Musical School in 1990 and obtained a jazz and composition diploma (also with full marks) at the Giuseppe Verdi Musical School in Milan. He has approached a range of musical genres (jazz, Cuban, Argentinean, Brazilian music) which, together with his classical studies, have given rise to an original personal style influencing his compositions as well as his improvisation.

In 1993 and 1994 he obtained two grants to the Boston’s "Berklee College of Music". In 2001 he won the third prize at the 1st International Competition for Jazz Pianists “Friedrich Gulda” in Ostra (Italy) and the first prize at the Brescia On Line Composition Competition (cat. World). In 2002 he won the 1st prize at the International Composition Competition “Writing in Jazz” in Sassari (film music section). In October 2003 he qualified first at the Emerging Soloists and Jazz Groups “Schio Emerjazz 2003” Competition and in November 2003 he obtained the 2nd prize at the Valentino Bucchi Prize International Composition Competition in Rome. He also received a silver medal from the President of the Italian Republic with his piece for choir and grand orchestra “Al volo” (1st and 3rd prizes not awarded)

He has collaborated as a pianist with pop singer Francesco Guccini and other important authors of the international music panorama such as Markus Stockhausen, Dave Liebman, Ralph Alessi, Javier Girotto, Francesco Bearzatti, Flaco Biondini, Ares Tavolazzi, Mauro Negri, Simone Guiducci, Roberto Dani, Salvatore Maiore. He has often taken part in the National Radio’s Third Channel broadcastings and has worked on the sound-tracks of silent movies. He is also a very sought-after arranger.

Together with the singer Anna Maria Castelli’s trio he performed both as a piano and as an accordion player in 20 countries (among which Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Scandinavia, Turkey, France, etc.) over just two years.

Besides taking part in a number of records he made a range of CD’s in his own name, among which: "Scale Mobili" (with the “Pentagono” group) (RAI Trade - Pentaflowers), “La strada” (Pepito Records-Ed. Telma) and, with M. Stockhausen, "Serengeti" (Velut Luna), “Pangea” (Velut Luna), “Christmas Songs” (Brisa Entertainment) (piano/double-bass with Salvatore Maiore).

These records received positive reviews on important music magazines such as Musica Jazz, Suono, Musica e Dischi, AudioPhile Sound, Fedeltà de l Suono, Italian Sound Company, Libri non solo, etc.

In August 2006 the new cd called “Making whopee” (Velut Luna) was launched. The cd was together cut with Rosella Caporale (feat. Fausto Beccalossi, Antonio Zambrini, Achille Succi). The music (original pieces and rearranged standards) is for soloists and orchestra (Orchestra of Padua and Veneto Region) and for soloists, choir and orchestra (Choir of the University of Padova).