Carlo Domeniconi's Biography

Carlo Domeniconi was born in 1947 in Cesena, Italy and is one of the most remarkable contemporary guitar composers. He started studying the guitar at the age of 13 with Carmen Lenzi Mozzani. Four years later, at the age of 17, he received his diploma from the Conservatory of Pesaro. In 1966, he went to Berlin to study composition at the University of Music (later known as The Berlin University of the Arts). He then started teaching as a guitar professor there and maintained that position for twenty years.

Domeniconi is known as a concert artist in both the classical and jazz idioms. He has gained popularity as a distinctive composer in the guitar world by showing regional folk influences in his compositions and for integrating musical ideas and themes from other cultures. After visiting Turkey he became enamoured of its people and culture so he started the department for guitar studies at the Conservatory of Istanbul. Many of his compositions reflect the regional folk influence of this country.

Carlo Domeniconi is probably most popular for his 1985 piece Koyunbaba. The name literally translates as "sheep-father", or "shepherd", some sources also translate it to "the spirit of the sheep", but also refers to many other things, including a 13th century mystical saint-like figure whose grave is decorated with colored bits of cloth by Turkish villagers seeking his help with family problems. "Koyunbaba" is also the family name of his descendants, who still reside in the area, and the name of a wild, dry region of Southwest Turkey. According to the local legend, the land is seemingly cursed therefore numerous people who have attempted to rent or purchase the land from the Koyunbaba family have died or fallen ill. Carlo Domeniconi has referred to two specific examples: one was a German woman who wanted to keep the area in its natural and unspoiled state, but was soon stricken with cancer. The other was one of three sons of the Koyunbaba family who suddenly sold some of the land, but soon after that, hanged himself.

Carlo Domeniconi currently resides in Berlin, Germany and continues teaching at the University of the Arts.