Antonio Breschi
| Antonio Breschi | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Antonio Breschi |
| Born |
22 July 1950 Florence, Italy |
| Genres | Irish, jazz, blues, flamenco, Celtic, folk, classical, new age, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist, musician, composer, author, singer, multi-instrumentalist |
| Instruments | Piano, trumpet, dulcimer, vocals, spoons, synthesizer, clavichord, accordion, percussion, guitar, palmas, jambé |
| Years active | 1975‒present |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | nomadicpiano |
Antonio Breschi, also known as Antóni O’Breskey (born in Florence, Italy 1950, with Argentine roots) is a composer, pianist and trumpet player, singer, writer, poet and music educator. Oliver Sweeney, in the Irish music magazine Hot Press, wrote of him: “He is a genius whose music is without frontiers, and whose originality makes him one of the most innovative artists in the varied musical genres of today.” As composer and pianist he is very original and eclectic, and he composed enormous varieties of music, creating a very personal style: “one of the most exciting sounds we have heard in years" (The 20th Queen Festival at Queen, Belfast 1981). His compositions for cello and piano and for oboe and piano as well as his world music became soundtracks for films, television programs, theatre and ballets.
His album "Ode to Ireland" won the award for the best album of the year. His roots are classical music and jazz, but he began to explore many other ethnic traditions. He was also an anticipator of minimalism and many other styles: “The categories of “World” and “New Age” music did not exist when Breschi began his trailblazing journey”. He is also a jazz innovator introducing piano in a creative way, mixing Irish and Flamenco music together with blues. Later he did the same with the Italian Pizzica and Taranta traditional music. He also developed a new trumpet sound mixing Irish sean-nós and blues, as Harry Long describes in his music anthology: “Breschi’s unique approach [...] the playing is superb and his style successfully combines Irish traditional and blues styles”. He has been breaking barriers among many different kinds of music, “yet he was the first to combine Flamenco, Basque, Arabic, Latin and Irish elements, his virtuoso jazz-styled piano uniting these traditions in remarkably original compositions.” With his work "Orekan: The Ethnic Symphony" he created a new “symphonic” concept bringing together piano (the top classical instrument which started the new “well tempered” system) with a vast variety of "not tempered” instruments, belonging to many different ethnic traditions.
For many years and predating the times he was gathering together extraordinary musicians from all over the world, and recording more than 25 albums which form "The Nomadic Piano Collection". About his ability to anticipate the times, Oliver Sweeney in the Hot Press said about his work Orekan: “Orekan is not only a masterpiece gathered together by the peculiar genius of Antóni O’Breskey; it is above all a unique social document which gives us a strong idea of our roots, and in addition points out a few possible roads we might take in the future”. He is also known to be the inspirer of the show Riverdance: “Bill Whelan developed Breschi’s synthesis of Flamenco, jazz and Irish traditional strands as a key structure in his Irish music and dance spectacular, Riverdance.”; “Well pre-dating Riverdance.”; “Ahead of his time… in 1979 Antóni O’ released a track called “Sunrise”, some of which sounds almost exactly like Riverdance” (Victoria Clarke, Sunday Independent). The track “Sunrise” was composed with the contribution of his great friend and musician Velemir Dugina.
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Wikipedia