Joe LoPiccolo is a guitarist and composer whose work is influenced by Classical, Jazz and World Music styles. Dan O'Heron of the Pasadena Weekly states his music is “Soft spoken eloquence, fascinatingly improvised.” and “The music is comforting and visual, it takes you to a better place, a paradise found.” Guitarist Andrew York, formerly of the Grammy Award winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet states “Having exceptional ability in both classical and jazz genres is very rare; Joe excels in both styles.” Andy Ellis, senior editor of Guitar Player magazine stated “LoPiccolo's impeccably executed, imaginative arrangements reveal his mastery of the guitar and its most subtle timbres.”
Joe LoPiccolo is a graduate of The California Institute of the Arts, receiving his BFA in Jazz Guitar and his MFA in Guitar Performance. He studied guitar extensively with Larry Koonse and Miroslav Tadic and took additional composition and orchestration classes with Mike Fink and Alan Chaplin. In addition to his BFA and MFA he is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music Youth Summer Program. He has contnued his education beyond his degrees with masterclasses and and workshops with master guitarists Guinga, Paco Serrano and Mick Goodrick
During the pursuit of his Masters degree he was a Wasserman Scholar and Teaching Assistant for the Guitar Program. He is an adjunct professor of music at Mt. San Antonio College and College of the Canyons where he teaches Group Guitar, World Music, Guitar Improvisation and Individual Guitar Instruction. He has self published 2 instructional texts, “Guitar Mosaic” and “Improvisation for Guitarists” and was a contributor to Andrew York's “Jazz Guitar For Classical Cats” Vols. 1 and 3 (Alfred).
Joe was a columnist for Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, writing a column entitled “The Global Guitarist”. He has been an ASCAP Plus Award recipient for the past 8 years and won the Guitar Player Magazine “Reader's Challenge” in February of 2006. Joe has Endorsement or Artist deals with La Bella Strings, Peak Music Stands, Acoustic Image Amplifiiers, Finale Notation Software, Godin Guitars, Line 6, LR Baggs Pickups and Phil Jones (AAD) Amplifiers.
Recent projects include a duo with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer for Sirius Radio and a duo with guitarist Vahagn Turgutyan. His newest CD “Night “ was just released summer 2009.
