Giovanni Guzzo

Born in Venezuela, Giovanni Guzzo is celebrated on the international music scene as a versatile and charismatic musician, both as a violin soloist and chamber musician and as a conductor. Since 2021 he has been concert master of Camerata Salzburg.

Giovanni Guzzo regularly performs at international concert halls and renowned festivals, among them the Wigmore Hall in London, the Lincoln Center in New York, the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival and the Verbier Festival. He works with well-known conductors such as Marin Alsop, Herbert Blomstedt, Semyon Bychkov, Iván Fischer, Reinhard Goebel, Juanjo Mena and Simon Rattle.

As a celebrated recitalist and chamber musician he collaborates closely with artists such as Martha Argerich, Joshua Bell, Martin Fröst, Hélène Grimaud, Daniel Hope, Janine Jansen, Miklós Perényi, Stephen Hough, Mats Lidström, Gerhard Schulz, Gábor Takács-Nagy and the Maggini and Takács Quartets.

His recent CD recording for Rubicon Classics of the complete solo sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe was much praised in the music magazines The Strad and BBC Music Magazine.

Giovanni Guzzo began his musical training on the piano at the age of five, and on the violin at the age of six. At the age of 12 he became the youngest winner of the Juan Bautista Plaza National Violin Competition in Venezuela. Supported by the French violinist Maurice Hasson, he initially studied at the Reina Sofía Music School in Madrid then, at the age of 16, won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from the Academy with distinction, and later returned to teach there as the youngest violin professor in the institution’s history. Since 2022 he has held a professorship in violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.

Giovanni Guzzo plays a violin made by Gennaro Gagliano in 1759. He has also played the celebrated Stradivarius ‘Viotti ex-Bruce’, in a concert for the British Royal Family.