LUCIANO MARZIALI at age 11 was admitted to the Donizetti Institute of Music, Bergamo Italy under maestro Giorgio Oltremari. In 1997, graduating cum laude with the highest marks in his class, he received the S. Mayr Award for graduate of the year. His many national and international awards include among others: - First prize, guitar solo, guitar duet: Genova 1993 - Barbisotti Scholarship: Bergamo 1993 - Second prize and Special Award for best performance of a piece by Matiegka: Ancona 1997 - Rotary Club Prize: Bergamo 1997 - Second prize (no First awarded): Cosenza, 2000 - First prize: Parma. 2001 1999 he graduated with top marks under Tilman Hoppstock at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, Germany. 2004 he received top marks under Prof. Hubert Käppel and 2006 he was awarded maximum recognition in performance (Konzertexamen), as well as his degree in guitar instruction under Roberto Aussel at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. He has performed on several recordings, among other with Fénix International Guitar Quartet, with WDR Sinfonie Orchester and published three Solo CDs and one in duo with Tobias Kassung. He attended master classes by D. Russell, A. Gilardino, T. Müller-Pering, S. Dinnigan and D. Bogdanovic, who hailed him as one of the best Italian guitarists of his generation, for his masterful technique and for the depth of his performance. He lives in Cologne, where he combines performances with teaching.