BIOGRAPHY

Antonio considers his guitar to be a messenger of peace and love against the injustices of the world. As an ambassador of Italian culture abroad, he has taken his “Italian” music all over the world, playing in Chile, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Angola, Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Turkey, England, Denmark, Switzerland, Albania, Slovenia and Turkmenistan. In 2002 he went to Baghdad with a fearless delegation of Italian artists to protest against the second Gulf War, holding two concerts for peace in Baghdad and Baqubah.

Among the stages that have contributed substantially to his artistic and human growth there are concerts in the USA. Here is an excerpt of his presentation by the promotion agency of his Pennsylvania tour held in 2010:
“[…] He plays 4 different guitars with precision, grace, beauty, talent and extraordinary skill. His style of jazz is a fusion of several different world cultures that influences his compositions. […] He fuses Afro-American music with traditional Neapolitan music, to create a new blend of jazz, ”Neapolitan Jazz”. Naples is known musically for the romantic guitar and classical music. Now fuse that sound with other world cultures music, as well as our American jazz … Antonio’s music is unique, beautiful and amazing! He first presented this style to the New York City community when he performed at the Blue Note in 2005 […]”

In America he has also established artistic contacts with some Native American populations (Lakota), for whom he has always had a great passion, following their principles and worldview.

Over the course of his prestigious 30-plus-year career, he has recorded and released some 40 albums with various record labels, all of which is his own original compositions.  In 2005, he was the director of the publishing series ‘Noteinedite‘ for the Sigma publishing company. A book about his life has recently come out: ‘Antonio Onorato … jazz e oltre‘ (Antonio Onorato … jazz and beyond – Rogiosi publishing company). Among his albums, there are some of contamination with African culture: “The soul breath” and “Quatro linguas uma alma” with the participation of Angolan singer Dodo Miranda; with the culture of Native Americans: “South winds”, “Emmanuel” with the participation of Cheyenne poet Lance Henson and Apache musician Danny Many Horses, “Native Angels” with the participation of Hopi singer-percussionist Bo Koinva; with Brazilian culture with two albums, “Un grande abbraccio” and “From Napoli to Belo Horizonte”, made with the great Brazilian guitarist-composer Toninho Horta. His most recent album is titled, “Lakota Blues” and was released in february 2023.

At a very young age, Antonio Onorato attended lessons with the great italian jazz guitarist Eddy Palermo and numerous workshops held by world famous guitarists such as Jim Hall, Mick Goodrick, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie and John Scofield, who told him “I would have liked to play the guitar when I was twenty like you play it“. Today, Onorato gives workshops on improvisation techniques himself. Infact, in addition to his work as a musician, he is also a dedicated educator.

Among his various guitars, Antonio is also the only musician in the world to play the Yamaha G10, an extraordinary revolutionary instrument that he himself renamed ”Breath Guitar”. He has invented a personal technique that allows him to play the guitar as if it were a woodwind. It is characterised by the fact that the strength, intensity and dynamics are managed through the emission of the musician’s breath thanks to a breath controller (a mouthpiece similar to that of a wind instrument) and not by the usual brush stroke or arpeggio.

Antonio Onorato has collaborated with numerous artists: Pino Daniele, Franco Cerri, Toninho Horta, Joe Amoruso, Gerald Cannon, and many others. From 2012 to 2014 he was a special guest in several Pino Daniele concerts.

In 2018 he founded the project “Italian Jazz Guitars” with Fabio Mariani and Gigi Cifarelli. He has taken part as a soloist in numerous prestigious international festivals with artists of the calibre of John Scofield, Jan Garbarek, Charlie Haden, Steve Grossman, John McLaughlin, Pat Metheny, Tito Puente, Toots Thielemans, Tuck & Patty, Gary Burton, Bob Geldolf, Rita Marley, George Benson, etc.

Throughout his remarkable career, Antonio Onorato has received numerous awards and accolades for his contributions to the world of music.

He continues to tour, perform and record music, inspiring audiences around the world with his unique sound and original approach to composition.