MATTEO MANCUSO

Matteo Mancuso ​​​​​​live at City Winery Chicago - Sunday, February 4th at 7:00 PM!

Matteo hails from the far-away island of Sicily, born in 1996 and raised outside Palermo, had his family relocated to the US, he might well be the best kept secret in the lineage of great Italian-American players like Zappa, Vai, Satriani, Di Meola, Petrucci, Gambale etc. Back in the 70’s, his father Vincenzo Mancuso made a name for himself as gifted session player on the domestic scene ; it was definitely him Matteo looked up to as a primary source of inspiration growing up. While still in high school (of music),he picked up classical guitar and transverse flute , it didn’t take long for everyone around to understand that a kid prodigy was blooming.

Before long, just turned 12 years of age, Matteo takes his first steps on stage at a local jazz festival and since then his acquaintance with live performances turns into confidence and develops through various line-ups and interactions with top local musicians, including a duo with his dad spanning the complexities of Django Reinhart’s repertoire as well as contemporary jazz classics. Multi-faceted player, classical or electric , what really is astounding and taking everyone aback is the one-of- a-kind technique and use of his fingers instead of regular picking. The killer tone and original sound truly put his talent in a different league altogether. His YouTube channel is now at 130k subscribers , most comments come from all over the world and his international fanbase keeps growing as people catch wind of something new in the guitar world... many are the names mentioning Matteo as a force to be reckoned with, from Dweezil Zappa, Joe Bonamassa all the way to the legends Al Di Meola & Steve Steve Vai.