Brass Day

The 2024 IUP Brass Day will be on February 18. Our guest artist this year is Italian trumpeter Andrea Tofanelli.

Guest Artist: Andrea Tofanelli

Andrea Tofanelli, trumpet player, was born in Viareggio (LU) on July 26, 1965. Mentioned on Wikipedia in numerous languages and in numerous other music books and encyclopedias, he began studying music and trumpet in the band of Torre del Lago Puccini in 1975, led by his father Dino, by maestro Marino Peruzzi, and by some amateur jazz musicians close to Dean Benedetti, the famous Italian-American jazz saxophonist mentioned in all Charlie Parker's biographies.

By 1979, at the age of only 14, Tofanelli was already noticed by the well-known arranger and conductor Luciano Maraviglia and began to be called to play as the first trumpet with many professional big bands from Versilia. In the same year, he also began to gain his first work experiences in the field of classical music, and in 1981 he entered to study trumpet at the Istituto Musicale Pareilato “L. Boccherini "of Lucca, where in 1987 he graduated with full marks, 10 and honors. In the same year he perfected with Armando Ghitalla (trumpet soloist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and professor at the University of Michigan) and deepened his jazz studies with Oscar Valdambrini and Sergio Fanni (solo trumpets of the RAI Light Music Orchestra of Rome and Milan).

In the field of jazz, Tofanelli has performed as a solo guest and/or as first trumpet with Maynard Ferguson and his Big Bop Nouveau Band (USA) in Italy, England, and the United States, and also with Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Gino Vannelli, Eric Marienthal , Claudio Roditi, Kenny Wheeler, Tom Harrell, Paul Jeffrey, Dave Liebman, Brad Leali, Butch Miles, Carmen Bradford, Dusko Gojkovich, Steve Swallow, Frank Foster, New York Voices, Till Brönner, Valery Ponomarev, Carl Anderson, Lee Konitz, John Taylor, Palle Daniellson, Denis DiBlasio, and Lew Soloff, and with Italians Enrico Rava, Gianni Basso, Paolo Fresu, Massimo Nunzi, Bruno Tommaso, Stefano Bollani, Giorgio Gaslini, Gianluigi Trovesi, Paolo Fresu, Henghel Gualdi, Mauro Grossi, and more.

Tofanelli has also performed as a soloist with the Atlanta Seventeen Big Band, Joe Gransden Big Band, Rowan University Big Band, New England Jazz Ensemble, San Diego State University Jazz Band, RCC Wind Ensemble Honor Band, Upland HS Jazz Band, Deer Valley HS Jazz Band (USA), Sandvika Stor band (Norway), Yuzo Kataoka All-Star Big Band (Japan), Ralph Pyl's All-Star Big Band (Australia), Luxembourg Jazz Orchestra, Opus78 Big Band, Harmonie Bascharage (Luxembourg), Dani Felber Big Band, SMZ Big Band, ZHdK Big Band (Switzerland), and Jazzorchester Karlsruhe (Germany).

On September 20, 2006, Tofanelli was invited as a soloist to the "Maynard Ferguson Tribute", an official concert for the commemoration of Maynard Ferguson organized at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis (USA), included on the official DVD for the commemoration of the great Canadian trumpet player (2007). In 2014 he was called to be part of the authoritative Board of Directors of the American International Trumpet Guild, the first Italian trumpeter in history, and was officially elected in office by the members of the ITG until 2019. He performed as a soloist in the ITG conferences of 2008 (Banff Center, Canada), 2010 (Sidney, Australia), 2012 (Columbus, Georgia, USA) and 2015 (Columbus, Ohio, USA). Since 2018, he has been part of the team of artists/clinicians of the prestigious World and European Brass Association founded by Otto Sauter, based in Germany and performing concerts all over the world. 

From jazz to pop and classical music, Tofanelli has performed in the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, England, Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, France, Russia, Liechtenstein, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Scotland, Poland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Serbia and the Principality of Monaco. He has participated in important international festivals, including the Japan Band Clinic in Hamamatsu, North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Pori Jazz Festival, Autostadt Jazz and Blues Festival in Wolfsburg, Oulu Jazz Festival, Escenica Festival in Madrid, Printemps Musical Festival in Luxembourg, Rowan Jazz Festival in Philadelphia (USA), Musek Am Syrdall, Saison Musicale, Mensdorf, San Francisco Making Waves Festival, Luxemburg Blues'n Jazz Rallye Festival, Festival Internacional Jazz San Javier, Winterthur Out in the Green Festival, San Sebastian Jazz Festival, Lichtenstein Little Big One Festival, the Tower Music Festival and Four Seasons Festival in London, Malta Festival, Wien Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Herr Nilsen Jazz Club in Oslo, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Vicenza Jazz Festival, Ascona Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Western States Jazz Festival USA, Scottish Festival of Trumpets, Roma Jazz Festival, Woodstock der Blasmusik, Blechbläsertag Schleswig-Holstein of Lubeck, CIMVO Curs Internacional de Musica Vila de L'Olleria, and many others.

He has performed in prestigious theaters and concert halls such as the Opera House in Vienna, Concertgebow in Amsterdam, Radio France and Palais De Congrés in Paris, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Blues Alley in Washington (USA), Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis (USA), Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerp, B1 Club in Moscow, Hartwell Arena in Helsinki, Tempodrom in Berlin, Philipshalle in Dusseldorf, Mohegan Sun Arena in USA, Hala Sportova in Belgrade, Expo in Hannover, Banff Center in Alberta (Canada), Kongresshaus in Zurich, Ludwigshafen Theater, Estoril Casino in Lisbon, Opole Philarmony in Poland, Sporting Club in the Principality of Monaco, Auditorium, Casa del Jazz and Auditorium del Foro Italico and Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and many others.

In 1999, Tofanelli recorded Mattia's Walk & Tribute To Maynard Ferguson, his first jazz album as a soloist, published by Splasc (H) Records, and in 2001 Ricordo di ... Napoli was released, a tribute to Neapolitan music published by Fonotecnica. During his 2005 tour in the United States, he recorded for LMP Records of Clermont (California) with the Artisan Brass of Los Angeles the "Romantic Celebration Suite" for jazz solo trumpet and brass quintet, dedicated to him by the American Grammy-nominated composer Brent Pierce. In 2008, Italian composer Antonio Giacometti dedicated the solo trumpet part to him in the symphonic poem “Antarctica.” In 2010, the new album Flamingo was released, produced by Jim Linahon's LMP Studios (Clermont, California) for the ACM label (American Creative Music, USA) and the "Earth Games 2012" suite (Summit Records, USA) with Joe Alessi, dedicated to him by the composer Nicola Ferro. The album More Than Just Friends, recorded as first trumpet and soloist with the Dani Felber Big Band, won the prestigious Swiss Jazz Award in 2010, while the album Portrait of Dani (2015), containing Tofanelli's solo performance on the song "This is For My Friend Andrea Tofanelli," won platinum in Switzerland.

Between pop, jazz, Latin music, and soundtracks, Tofanelli has recorded more than 500 records, many of which have obtained gold and platinum sales in Italy and abroad, in collaboration with the most prestigious Italian and international artists.

In the field of classical music, Tofanelli won national competitions for the Italian Youth Orchestra of Fiesole (European and Italian Tour 1988) and the Teatro Comunale del Giglio in Lucca, also arriving in the final in Rome in the selections for the ECYO (Orchestra European Youth). In 1989–90 he carried out his military service playing in the Italian Air Force Band in Rome. To date, he has also collaborated with the ORT Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Symphony Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna “A. Toscanini,” the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Torino, the EUR Spettacoli, and the Lucchese Chamber Orchestra.

As a teacher, since 2004 Tofanelli has been a full professor of trumpet and improvisation laboratory at the O.Vecchi-A.Tonelli Higher Institute of Musical Studies in Modena. In addition, he takes care of the trumpet and brass workshop in the Improvisation and Introduction to Jazz course at the prestigious Fiesole School of Music. As an international lecturer, he has held clinics in the United States at California State University Northridge in Los Angeles, San Diego State University (California), Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Christian University (Oklahoma), Rowan University in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Riverside City College, Fullerton College (California), International Trumpet Seminar at Grand Valley State University (Michigan), First Baptist Church of Decatur in Atlanta (Georgia), Canton High School, Region 7 School District of Winsted, Southington High School, Manchester High School and Hall High School of West Harford (Connecticut), in Japan at the Japan Band Clinic, and in Europe in Norway (Norges Musikkhøgskole-Norwegian Academy of Music), Luxembourg (Musique Militaire Grand-Ducale Philarmonie), Germany (Musikhochschule di Lubeck, Hamburg, Schramberg and Offenburg), Spain (Teror Festival de Trompeta Canary Islands, CIMVO Curs Internacional de Musica Vila de L'Olleria), Poland (Academie Musi drops in Lodz and Poznań, Letnia Akademia-Summer Brass Academy in Opole), and Switzerland (Zurich, Mennedorf, Ermatingen).

In addition, Tofanelli has held master classes in Italy for many years at the Italian Brass Week, together with the first parts of the Chicago Symphony, Allen Vizzutti and Jens Lindemann, at the Baceno Brass Festival and at the Bosa Antica International Courses. He was the only Italian trumpeter consulted for the writing of the didactic book on the trumpet setting, Embouchure - The Pros Talk (USA, 2002) by Clint Pops McLaughlin. In 2003 he was assistant to the seminar held by Maynard Ferguson at the Vicenza Jazz Festival.

Since 2003, Andrea Tofanelli is an international YAMAHA artist and clinician.