Classical guitarist. Recording artist. Musicologist.
Highly commended by classical guitar personalities including David Russell and Angelo Gilardino, Francesco Teopini is a guitarist, musicologist, music educator, and music examiner currently based in Hong Kong. As a concert artist, Francesco has performed in international venues and music festivals for over two decades. His performances and recordings have been broadcast by RAI, TVB, RTHK, Radio France, NPO, and RBB; and he has recently debuted as a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under the baton of Lorenzo Iosco. His enthusiasm for contemporary music has led to collaborations with the Manson Ensemble, the Danilo Dolci Ensemble and the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, under the baton of Diego Masson, Tonino Battista, and Manuel Nawri, as well as with Italian composer Giovanni Santini as part of the ensemble of his Virtual Reality opera, Essere.
Francesco’s first international release with Brilliant Classics, J. S. Bach: Sonatas and Partitas BWV 1001–1006 (2016), received enthusiastic praises from audiences and critics alike. It was described “[an] intense and felt interpretation…[with a sound] endowed with warmth and attack but also power” (Diapason, France) and “a recording that achieves a beautiful sound and a dignified interpretation” (Melá½¹mano Digital, Spain). In July 2022, Francesco's latest recording, Mozart on Guitar: Transcriptions and Adaptations, was released on the Da Vinci Classics label, which in March 2023 received two Silver Medals at the Global Music Awards for the categories "New Release" and "Creativity/Originality".
Francesco obtained his Diploma in Classical Guitar from the “G. B. Martini” Conservatory in Bologna (Italy) under the guidance of Michele Corbu, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Guitar Performance with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music (London), where he studied with Timothy Walker, Michael Lewin and John Mills. During his two years at RAM, he won the Blyth Watson Award and the Foundation Award, as well as the Second Prize at the 2007 Julian Bream Prize. As a recipient of the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, Francesco has recently been awarded a PhD in musicology from the Hong Kong Baptist University. During his PhD years, Francesco's academic research explored Mauro Giuliani’s guitar potpourris called Le Rossiniane using an interdisciplinary approach based on the theory of Transtextuality by French literary theorist Gérard Genette. Francesco’s publications includes articles in Malaysian Journal of Music and for The International Association for Word and Music Studies.