Bio

Renzo Staiano is a musician of extraordinary versatility. He performs professionally on 6 and 8 string acoustic and electric guitars, Cuban tres , Andean charango , and other Latin American guitars. 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 Monterey, 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 with top honors. Later, he completed his M.A. at UCSC, studying Latin American ethnomusicology under the auspices of the prominent ethnomusicologist John Schechter. In 2006, Renzo completed extensive field study and an exhaustive MA thesis documenting coastal Peruvian guitar performance. In addition to Peru, Renzo has studied guitar in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina. Renzo also  studied classical guitar with the acclaimed Turkish guitarist Mesut Özgen and world-renowned Barrios scholar Rico Stover. Renzo has taught guitar, music theory, and music history privately as well as in a university setting. He possesses a profound knowledge of diverse musical styles including jazz, blues, funk, pop, classical, and numerous Latin American genres. He is an active song writer and arranger, working currently with his bandmates in the San Francisco Urban / Indie band Le VICE. For the past three years, Renzo has often performed as a soloist; he completed an album of solo guitar, El Ocho vol. 1, in July 2008 and is currently working on vol. 2. He has recently appeared on stage with various orchestras for works such as Joel Ford’s 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 has performed with many accomplished musicians, including members of: Funkadelic, The JB’s, The Dodos, Peru Negro, Acoustic Alchemy, Dethklok Metalocalypse, The Santa Cruz Chamber Orchestra, DJ Logic, Savoy Brown, The Doobie Brothers, RadioActive, Michael Franti (Spearhead), and Santana.