Name Robert Bonfiglio Role Music performer | Music group Wanderlust | |
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Albums Live at the Grand Canyon, Harmonica Classics Similar People Carnie Wilson, Phoebe Snow, Scot Sax, Arif Mardin | ||
Robert Bonfiglio (born September 6, 1950) is an American classical harmonica player. Described by the music critic for the Los Angeles Times, as "the Paganini of the harmonica", he is known for his many recordings and live performances featuring the instrument.
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Early life and education
Bonfiglio was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son an orthopedic surgeon, and raised in Iowa City, Iowa. He first began playing the diatonic harmonica when he was thirteen, and although he played in local blues bands as a teenager, had no plans to become a professional musician. He enrolled in the University of Arizona to study chemistry, but at the same time became interested in the possibilities of the chromatic harmonica. After travelling to Trossingen, Germany in the 1970s where he attended a seminar by the master harmonica player, Cham-Ber Huang, he decided on a musical career. He enrolled in Mannes College of Music in New York City, studying composition. Mannes, like the other major music conservatories in the United States at the time, did not offer majors in the harmonica. However, Bonfiglio also studied the classical harmonica with Cham-Ber Huang for five years and was coached privately by Andrew Loyla, the Principal Flautist with the New York City Ballet orchestra for over ten years. During this time he added all the existing classical music composed for the harmonica to his repertoire. After receiving his Bachelor of Music from Mannes, Bonfiglio went to post-graduate study at the Manhattan School of Music. It was his composition teacher there, Charles Wuorinen, who told him he could do more with the classical harmonica than with composition because it was such a special niche. He won the first Milhaud Scholarship to study composition at the Aspen Music Festival with Aaron Copland.
Career
After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music with his Masters in Music, Bonfiglio supported himself as a session musician in New York working on commercials and soundtracks for television programs and films, including the soundtracks for Kramer vs. Kramer and Places in the Heart. His breakthrough as a concert artist came in 1986 when he performed the world premiere of Henry Cowell's Harmonica Concerto with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lukas Foss.
Bonfiglio has performed harmonica concertos as the soloist with over 200 major orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Buenos Aires Philharmonic of Teatro Colón, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Leipzig MDR-Radio Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Madrid RTVE Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, as well as the Pittsburgh Symphony, the National Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Boston Pops and the New York Pops in the major halls of the world – Carnegie Hall, the Gewandhaus, Teatro Colón, Teatro Massimo, Teatro Amazonas, Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Lincoln Center and the Hollywood Bowl.
He has appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, CBS Morning Show, Live with Regis and Kathy Lee, Larry King, The Jim Bohannon Show and Garrison Keillor's American Radio Show. He has had feature stories and reviews in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune.
Personal life
Bonfiglio is married to the flautist Clare Hoffman. The couple founded the Grand Canyon Music Festival in 1984 and continue to serve as its artistic directors.
Discography
Bonfiglio's recordings include: