MICHELE RAMO
MICHELE RAMO (pronounced: Me-KEL-ay) is a 6, 7 & 8 string nylon fingerstyle jazz guitarist, jazz violinist, composer, and educator who specializes in bringing American Swing, Brazilian, Gypsy, and Latin rhythms together in his playing, as well as composing and arranging for the guitar. A classical jazz crossover artist in the truest sense of the word, Ramo has a unique and sought-after ability for blending his classical and jazz worlds into his writing, teaching, and performance. He is a self-taught guitarist whose formal training and higher education is in violin studies. However, Ramo always maintained his great love of the guitar and played both instruments - the guitar and the violin, while working in the orchestra. He attended guitar master classes in Italy with Aliro Diaz and in the United States with Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Charlie Byrd, and Joe Pass. RAMO was born May 5, 1964, and grew up in the small Sicilian village of ? Costiera?, located on the southwest coast of Sicily near the fishing town of Mazara del Vallo, Italy. There was no musical exposure but for the song of the sea, sheep, olive orchards, and vineyards. However, music was his destiny. He quit regular school at age 13 and entered the Conservatory of Music where he began violin studies (there were no guitar studies) and by the age of 17 received his first professional contract with the Italian State Symphony opera orchestra "Orchestra Del Teatro Massimo in Palermo. He earned a Master's degree in violin from the music conservatory of Caltanissetta. Ramo toured Europe with the International Mediterranean Youth Orchestra "Le Juness Du Mediterranee".