Salvatore Bonafede | Pianist
Salvatore Bonafede, a pianist and composer, was born in Palermo in 1962. He started studying the piano at the age of eight and in 1989 took his diploma in music at the Berklee College of Music di Boston. When he moved to the United States in 1986, he started working regularly with Jerry Bergonzi with whom he went on two tours in Australia, besides participating in a seminar on jazz at Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.). In this period Bonafede also played in the Brandeis University Orchestra, playing on the university circuit of New England.
When he came back to Italy Bonafede went on a long European tour in 1997 and toured Italy in 2003 alongside Joe Lovano, as well as participating in the show “Symphony of the two worlds” by the director Jérôme Savary, and in the national radio broadcasts entitled “Inventions for two voices”, “Jazz Club” and “The Concerts of the Quirinal Palace”. He has collaborated as a composer for the theatre with directors Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco (Biennale of Venice, 2002) and for the cinema (Gran Premio Città di Lagonegro for the best soundtrack – 2003, candidature for Best Music at the Nastri d’Argento 2004, B.A. Film Festival Prize for best Soundtrack – 2004).
He also teaches at the Conservatory of Palermo and has composed approximately 400 pieces of which 100 have been recorded, as well as publishing about 70 recordings of which 15 in his own name.
