Guitarist-composer, concert performer, author, and teacher, universally recognized as "The Flying Guitarist" for his countless tours around the world and for his basic teaching methodology, which is appreciated and used in many European, Asian, and American countries.
His intense concert activity has led him to perform as a soloist in prestigious theaters and concert halls in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Moldavia, Serbia, Turkey, China, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, Canada and many cities in the United States of America. As a soloist, he has performed several concerts for guitar and orchestra, and in the chamber music field, he has been part of various ensembles collaborating with internationally renowned artists.
He is the author of the basic method (sales record) LA CHITARRA VOLANTE (The Flying Guitar), a real "Best Seller" of music education published by Edizioni Curci of Milan. For over 20 years, the flying guitar has been the best-selling and most used of all musical instrument methods in Italy. Furthermore, the same method has been translated into English and Portuguese for the Brazilian market by Irmãos Vitale Editores of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, for Edizioni Curci, he has published several original compositions of a descriptive genre, from duo to guitar orchestra.
Also highly appreciated as a transcriber, his editions include UNA CHITARRA IN FRAC (A Tribute to Mister Volare); LA CHITARRA NAPOLETANA (A Tribute to Neapolitan Song); "I LOVE GUITAR" (A Tribute to Remo Vinciguerra).
Maestro Paradiso is regularly invited all over the world to give masterclasses and seminars on his methodology and especially with guitar orchestras, of which he is one of the leading international experts.
He has composed and premiered his own compositions with guitar orchestras at various universities, conservatories, and festivals in the United States, South America, Europe, and Japan.
For his artistic, educational, and editorial merits, he has received numerous awards, such as the prestigious Golden Guitar award for teaching in 2012 at the International Guitar Conference; Eurocorde in Mantua 2018 "Memorial Andrés Segovia" and the "Maestro d'Italia" award obtained twice in 2008 and 2012. Furthermore, his publications have won numerous critics' awards and covers of specialized magazines, including: Seicorde, Classical Guitar Magazine, Acoustic Guitar, GuitArt, DotGuitar.
Formerly a professor at various Italian conservatories, in 2000 (out of over one hundred and fifty candidates), Maestro Paradiso was first overall in the National Competition for teaching guitar in music-oriented courses.
More recently, on his records and in his live concerts, he has exclusively played music composed by him and his transcriptions of Italian music. He has to his credit numerous albums for various record labels, all usable on the major online digital platforms.
International endorser:
Salvador Cortez Guitars
La Bella Strings
Annamaria Plantamura - Guitar
Born in 1983, Annamaria Plantamura began studying guitar at the age of eleven in a music-oriented program under the guidance of Maestro Vito Nicola Paradiso. In 1998, she recorded the CD “Impressioni Faunistiche” as a member of the Puglian Youth Orchestra conducted by Maestro Paradiso.
She studied at the “Niccolò Piccinni” Conservatory, completing her Intermediate Diploma with Maestro Linda Calsolaro, and in 2006 earned her final Diploma with top marks under the guidance of Maestro Nando Di Modugno. In 2009, she earned a Master's Degree in Musical Disciplines with top marks and honors, again under the guidance of Maestro Nando Di Modugno. Her final thesis, "Algo - Il Giogo delle Figure," was an analytical study of compositional form based on Franco Donatoni's work of the same name. The thesis was published in the online magazine DotGuitar.
Annamaria has received numerous awards in national and international competitions, including the First Absolute Prize at the “Euterpe” International Music Competition (2008 edition). She has performed widely as a soloist in concerts and cultural events. She has also appeared in numerous chamber music concerts, collaborating in ensembles of various sizes, from duos to octets and guitar orchestras.
Annamaria has participated in many masterclasses with internationally renowned maestros, including Leo Brouwer, Costas Cotsiolis, Alberto Ponce, Lorenzo Micheli, Eduardo Isaac, and Stefano Grondona. Under the guidance of Maestro Oscar Ghiglia, from 2005 to 2008, she participated as an active student in the prestigious "Incontri Chitarristici Città di Gargnano" and the summer courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, receiving a scholarship and a Diploma of Merit. Since 2008, she has been an educator and is currently a Tenured Guitar Teacher at a lower secondary school. She is also a member of PGQ – Paradiso Guitar Quartet and Bass, founded and directed by Vito Nicola Paradiso.
Gianvito Difilippo - Guitar
Gianvito is a full-stack developer and classically trained guitarist. He builds modern web applications while maintaining his long-standing dedication to classical music. He holds a PhD in Electrical and Information Engineering from Politecnico di Bari, where he studied
coordination and control of autonomous systems, as well as degrees in Automation and Computer
Engineering from the same university.
He graduated in classical guitar with top marks from the Conservatorio di Musica “N. Piccinni” under the guidance of Francesco Diodovich, and he attended masterclasses with Oscar Ghiglia and Nando Di Modugno. He began his musical training with Annamaria Plantamura, with whom he now performs as part of the Paradiso Guitar Quartet & Bass, active since 2024.
Beyond solo performance, he has gained experience in chamber music as well, collaborating regularly with instruments such as cello and mandolin, and performing with other guitar ensembles. He has also studied opera singing and spent several years performing with a local choir.
Although Gianvito now works professionally in the IT sector, music remains a central part of his life, continuing tovshape his focus and approach to work.
Gabriella Perniola - Guitar
As a music lover since she was a child, Gabriella began studying classical guitar with Maestro Vito Nicola Paradiso at the age of five. She has participated in many competitions, winning her first outright prize. Among the most important: the 51st International classical guitar competition MICHELE PITTALUGA - special section for young talents ''Pittaluga
Junior'', XIV Lams Musical Performance Competition - City of Matera, International Guitar Festival (Mottola) - International Competition ''Young Guitarists''.
She has also participated in many Masterclasses with important Masters: Antogoni Goni, Frédéric Zigante, Marco Caiazza, Antonio Rugolo, Lucia Pizzutel – ‘’Seminari di interpretazione Chitarristica’’ at Civica Scuola di Musica ‘’Arcangelo Corelli’’ in Castellaneta; Leo Brouwer – 27th International Guitar Festival in Mottola;
Jure Cerkovnik, Nicola Montella, Matthew Mcallister – Acerra Guitar Meetings; Tali Roth, Luciano Tortorelli, Federico Ferrandina and Sharon Farber - Guitar Oasis International Music Festival; Marco Riboni in the Seminar ‘’La Forma Sonata nel repertorio chitarristico’’ – Conservatory E. R. Duni, Matera; José Maria Gallardo del Rey in the Seminar ''La chitarra in Spagna: poetica, tecniche e protagonisti'' – Conservatory E. R. Duni, Matera; Andrea Dieci and John Griffits – Vivaldi International Festival 2025, Pomarico.
Moreover, she has experience performing in guitar orchestras and in guitar and mandolin orchestras, taking part, for several editions, in the International Mandolin & Guitar Accademia.
Inherent to the classical field, she also practiced dance for 15 years. Here too, she attended masterclasses with important dancers such as Alessandra Celentano, Emanuel Lo, Sebastian Melo, and Gino Labate. After graduating from the scientific high school in 2021, she started courses for the Bachelor's degree in Classical guitar at the Conservatory of Music E. R. Duni in Matera, under the guidance of Maestro Antonio Rugolo - graduating
with top marks in 2024. Simultaneously, she enrolled in Master's degree courses at the same Conservatory.
She is currently a member of PGQ – Paradiso Guitar Quartet and Bass founded and directed by Vito Nicola Paradiso.
Ernesto Losavio - Double Bass
A graduate in Medicine and Surgery, specializing in Neurology and in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Ernesto currently heads the Neurorehabilitation and Spinal Unit Department at IRCCS Maugeri – Bari, Italy.
He began studying guitar and later refined his skills in jazz music under the guidance of Maestro Guido Di Leone. He subsequently took up the study of jazz double bass with Maestro Giuseppe Bassi.
Over the years, he has performed in various jazz and blues projects, alternating between guitar and double bass. He has attended numerous seminars and masterclasses to deepen his knowledge of jazz and acoustic guitar techniques, focusing on fingerpicking and Delta Blues styles. Among the teachers he has studied with are Franco Morone, Paolo Sereno, Preston Reed, Duck Baker, Franco Cerri, Joe Diorio, and Pat Metheny.
He has played electric bass with the “Joyful” Gospel Chorus, directed by Maestro Roberto Angiulo, and performs as a guitarist in the blues duo “Blue Finger”, together with singer/guitarist Samantha Nuzzi. As a double bassist, he has recorded a CD of Cuban music and another featuring film music composed by Nino Rota.
Ernesto is currently the double bassist of the PGQ Quartet and Bass, performing original compositions by Maestro Vito Nicola Paradiso, founder and Director of the group. He is also studying Classical Double Bass under Maestro Giovanni Rinaldi at the “Nicolò Piccinni”
Conservatory of Music in Bari.
Paradiso Guitar Quartet & Double Bass
THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST: TRAVEL NOTES -- recorded April 18-19, 2025
Descriptive music inspired by places and journeys through the American Southwest.
This project originated with an idea by the renowned composer, concert performer, teacher, and author Vito Nicola Paradiso. The ensemble brings together three generations of guitarists from the school of Maestro Paradiso, joined by the double bass, which lends color and depth to the performances.
The repertoire includes exclusively descriptive music by Maestro Paradiso, specially composed and adapted for this chamber ensemble. With elegant, refined, original, and engaging sounds, the music, from the very first notes, captures the audience on a sort of wonderful musical journey, amidst sounds and atmospheres inspired by places and situations that the composer has put down on paper, as if they were veritable travel notes or musical paintings.
The PGQ\'s repertoire is vast and covers a variety of themes, from the beauty of Italy to current issues such as migration, the environment, and violence against women, as well as various compositions written in a World Music style.
TRAVEL IN AMERICA
Travel in America is a triptych composed in 2013 that captures the impressions and sensations of a first journey through the American Southwest, using various means of transport.
America in the Sky evokes the flight and gliding of an airplane as it circles and flies over the city of Los Angeles before landing. After a long and exhausting journey from Europe, the moment finally arrives: the joy of reaching your destination and the excitement of discovering new places and new friends.
America on the Road begins with the hypnotic and rhythmic flashing of a parked car’s hazard lights, before setting off on a long drive along the endless roads of the Arizona desert.
America on the Train tells the story of a train journey along California’s Pacific coast, from San Diego to Santa Barbara, admiring the ocean from a privileged vantage point. Endless beaches, vast sea, and surfers riding and spinning on the waves.
NIGHT IN LAS VEGAS
A double composition written in 2024 and dedicated to my friend Lucas Finney and his Las Vegas Guitar Orchestra. Music that tells of a joyful experience everyone would love to have at least once in their lifetime.
Roulette and Slots. Inspired by the casinos of Las Vegas, it begins with the sound of a spinning roulette wheel and a ball coming to rest on the winning number. As the piece unfolds with a typically American sound, the tension and growing anxiety of the gambler become apparent, punctuated by sudden bursts of coins from slot machines.
For Boulevard: The happiness of a gambler who, in a convertible, celebrates with champagne and female company while cruising through one of the most beautiful boulevards in the world at night.
RIVERSIDE
Riverside is a Californian city a few miles east of Los Angeles. While researching its history, I discovered an important tradition held there: for over a century, on Easter night, many Riverside residents walk up Mount Rubidoux, located a short distance from the city centre. This custom, repeated every year, has become a kind of nocturnal pilgrimage under the stars.
Once the residents reach the summit where a large white cross stands, several speakers begin to recite poems, stories, and passages from the Bible as they await the sunrise.
This music is dedicated to my friend Peter Curtis and his Guitar Orchestra.
Composed in 2025, Riverside consists of two distinct movements:
Stars on the Mountain is astrenuous nighttime climb, looking up at the sky, admiring the stars.
Easter Sunrise is the mystical atmosphere and magic of an Easter dawn, expressing rebirth and the beauty of life in all its forms.
LAST DAY OF SUMMER
This work was composed on a late summer day on a California beach, while admiring a spectacular sunset and the shimmering reflections of the last rays of sunlight on the ocean waves.
The theme is imbued with nostalgia for the end of a beautiful summer
REFRACTIONS IN THE ARIZONA DESERT
Imagine scorching temperatures in the heart of the Arizona desert, watching from afar as the air shimmers and dances above the burning asphalt.
This composition is dedicated to my friend Chuck Hulihan and his Guitar Orchestra.
FRONTERA
The feelings and fears of a Latin American migrant attempting to cross the California desert in secret. The piece begins with the atmospheric sounds of the desert: the howling of coyotes, rattlesnakes, and the whizzing of Border Patrol bullets.
Thus begins a daring escape, interrupted only by a moment of nocturnal rest, when the migrant dreams of a better future.
Label: Soundset Recordings Item Number: SR1196 Format: CD Year Recorded: 2025 Recording Engineer: Giuseppe Di Gioia (https://gdgrecords.it) Mastering Engineer: Giuseppe Di Gioia (https://gdgrecords.it) Artwork Designer: Simone Di Prato Producer: Vito Nicola Paradiso Ricorded at International Sound Studio: https://www.studiosoundservice.com/en/projects/international-sound-studio
The PGQ is a classical guitar quartet with double bass.
This recording captures the audience on a wonderful musical journey, amidst sounds and atmospheres inspired by places and situations that composer Vito Nicola Paradiso has captured on paper, as if they were veritable travel notes or musical paintings.
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