Saverio Tasca

Marimba and vibraphone player Saverio Tasca was born in Bassano del Grappa, Italy, on 23 August 1963. He studied percussion in Vicenza with Guido Facchin and at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam with Jan Pustjens, Peter Prommel and Jeroen Goldstein. He subsequently continued his studies with David Friedman and Dave Samuels.

His teaching work includes percussion at the Vicenza Conservatory. In 1998 he assisted with a course given by David Friedman, and from 2001 he taught vibraphone and marimba alongside Dave Samuels at the Summer Jazz Workshop in Italy.

He has performed with Dave Samuels, David Friedman, Emmanuel Séjourné, Kuniko Kato, Filippo Lattanzi, Bogdan Bacanu, Peter Erskine, Glenn Ferris, Harold Danko, Claudio Roditi and Tony Scott, as well as many other distinguished musicians. He plays in groups and ensembles working in classical, jazz and contemporary music, with performances throughout Europe and tours of South Africa.

His compositions include Four Solo Pieces for Vibraphone and a Concerto for Vibraphone and String Orchestra, published in the United States.

In July 2004 he received third prize in the Percussion Arts Society’s Vibraphone Composition Contest in the United States for Marker Day. In 2009 his work Aha Oho received third prize in the Universal Marimba Competition’s international composition competition in Belgium.

In 2009 he performed with the Adams International Percussion Group, for which he wrote Olivi Erosi for six percussionists.