Julian Gargiulo

Biography

Gargiulo was born in Naples, Italy. He studied at the Verona State Conservatory with Aureliana Randone, the Mugi Academy in Rome with Aldo Ciccolini, and the Moscow Conservatory with Mikhail Mezhlumov. In 1995 he moved to the United States, where he studied at Rowan University with Veda Zuponcic, at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University with Boris Slutsky, and at the University of Maryland with Santiago Rodriguez. After moving to New York in 1999, he founded the Sacred Heart Concert Series of Mount Vernon, New York, a program that brings classical music to underprivileged communities. He is also the director of the Water Island Music Festival in the US Virgin Islands.

Since 2001, he has started introducing comedy into his performances, combining piano and humor, so "expect to revise any preconceived notions you have about classical music concerts." Described as "a marvelous non-stop flow of pure Woody Allen-ish wit" he "...creates an atmosphere of interaction and complicity with the audience." He has collaborated with musicians such as Olga Makarina, Dmitri Berlinsky, Joe Burgstaller, Octavio Vazquez, and choreographer Neta Pulvermacher. He has performed in the United States, Canada, England, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Russia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, China, and Australia in venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Dag Hammarskjöld Hall at the United Nations, Moscow Conservatory Hall, Verona Philharmonic Hall, the Singapore Esplanade and the Seymour Centre.

In 2014 Julian was named a Steinway Artist.

In 2015 Julian presented 'Getting to Carnegie', an International Music Competition which features young musicians from all around the world for a chance to share the stage at Carnegie Hall. The first edition was for violin. The second edition (2016) is for cello.

Recordings