Costa Rica

Hailed as one of the greatest finger-picking style guitarists currently recording and performing, Peppino D’Agostino together with percussionist/drummer Juan Van Emmerloot have recorded a DVD-Audio/Video title of tremendous virtuosity and emotional diversity. The sounds of the percussion weave around the acoustic space in 5.1 channel surround as the warmth of the guitar is projected into the same space. The magic of steels strings on a finely crafted acoustic guitar is presented in all of its fidelity and intimacy thanks to the depth of recording quality offered uniquely by 96 kHz/24-bit recording.

Peppino D’Agostino has had a long and distinguished career filled with highlights. His most recent accolade came from Guitar Player magazine when he was voted BEST ACOUSTIC GUITARIST by its readers in the Reader’s Choice Awards. He was born in Messina, Italy in 1951. He was first drawn to the guitar after watching his cousin perform during church services in his hometown of Torino; the self-taught musician began picking out tunes by ear, and inspired by legends like Paco de Lucia, Leo Kottke and Carlos Santana, was composing and recording solo throughout Italy by the age of 18. Immigrating to San Francisco in 1984 to pursue his dream as a composer and performer, he paid his dues as a street musician before developing into a world-renowned recording artist and performer critics have long hailed as “a poet…among the best talents around” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “one of the most capable composers among fingerstyle guitarists” (Acoustic Guitar).

Juan van Emmerloot (born 12 November 1965, Waalwijk) is a Dutch drummer and record producer. Juan started playing drums at the age of 10. For at least 8 years he seriously took lessons on the drum set and classical percussion from drum a Dutch teacher called Marius Spikmans. Juan played together with quite a number of artists, including the Dutch artists Kaz Lux (Brain Box), Julya Lo’Ko and Robby Valentine. His passion for touring and meeting musicians from other countries, turned him into an international session-player. In the past 5 years Juan chose to be a member of the Stef Burns Group (SBG) and for the last 5 years they’ve been touring and playing a lot in Italy.