Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations

Guitarist Becomes Student of His Favorite Musician

Carlo Corrieri hails from Italy, but these days he lives in California, where he studies with legendary guitarist Christopher Parkening at Pepperdine University.

"It was my dream to study under Christopher Parkening," Carlo says. "I've listened to his CDs ever since I was a child." Carlo met Parkening when he participated in a master class in Montana in 2005, and was thrilled when Parkening decided to take him on as his student.

Carlo can trace his love of guitar back to when a he was 6 years old and a friend of the family gave him a small Russian guitar.

"Some of the strings were broken, but I instantly loved it," he recalls. "I began to play songs from cartoons that I heard on television."

It was obvious to his parents that Carlo had a knack for music, so a year later they gave him a full-sized guitar and enrolled him in classical guitar lessons. By the time he was 8, Carlo was already winning international competitions.

One of his most memorable recent experiences was playing at the Enzo Ferrari Auditorium in Maranello, Italy, for the introduction of a new Ferrari model.

"I played onstage with the model next to me," recalls Carlo. "It was such a great experience."

He performs He performs Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Capriccio Diabolico.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.