Luigi Legnani
Virtuosity, technical constraints and gesture in nineteenth-century guitar performance.
Nicholas
Rocca
Guitarist and researcher
01 / Bio
Nicholas Rocca
Born in Lecco in 1996, he studied with Stefano Grondona at the “Arrigo Pedrollo” Conservatoire in Vicenza, where he earned a Master’s degree in classical guitar with highest honours. He had previously studied with Luigi Attademo at the “Gaetano Donizetti” Institute in Bergamo, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in classical guitar, also with highest honours. He furthered his study of the guitar repertoire with Paul Galbraith, Laura Mondiello and Carles Trepat.
A prizewinner in national and international music competitions, he performs in Italy and abroad as a soloist and chamber musician, appearing at festivals and in concert series presented by musical institutions and cultural organisations. Notable engagements include the Fondazione Donizetti in Bergamo, the “Giovanni Arvedi” Auditorium at Cremona’s Museo del Violino, Fondazione Monzino at Milan’s Castello Sforzesco, the Grandezze & Meraviglie Festival in Modena, Gallerie d’Italia in Vicenza, the Musicarerum concert series, Mareterra Festival in Apulia and the Garrigues Guitar Festival “Memorial Emili Pujol” in Spain. Together with Juan Pablo Palomino, he founded the Duo Palomino-Rocca, devoted to the two-guitar repertoire, with particular emphasis on Spanish music and historical transcriptions.
Alongside his concert career, he pursues artistic research. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Performance Practice and Repertoires of Italian Music at the “Giuseppe Nicolini” Conservatoire in Piacenza. His research examines performance and virtuosity, focusing on the ways in which musical meaning is shaped through instrumental practice.
He contributes to the journal il Fronimo. For Stradivarius, he took part in the complete recording of Manuel María Ponce’s guitar sonatas and wrote an essay for the accompanying booklet. The album was warmly received by critics in Italy and abroad, earning five stars from Amadeus and coverage in the Italian, French and Japanese press.
02 / Research
Doctoral programme in Performance Practice and Repertoires of Italian Music · “Giuseppe Nicolini” Conservatoire, Piacenza
Rethinking Virtuosity as Embodied Performance: Pathways in Instrumental Practice through Case Studies in Classical-Guitar Repertoire
The project investigates virtuosity as an embodied, expressive and relational practice. It brings together archival research, analysis, textual criticism, the study of performance practice and practice-based enquiry, treating the performer’s body and interpretative choices as sources of knowledge.
Case studies
Manuel de Falla
Transcription, chamber-music performance and reception.
Goffredo Petrassi
Timbre, instrumental gesture and sound production.
03 / Artistic activity
Concerts and projects
Recitals
Solo programmes spanning the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Alongside conventional recitals, he presents lecture-recitals in which interpretation, source studies and performance practice come together in a guided listening experience.
Duo Palomino-Rocca
A chamber-music partnership with Juan Pablo Palomino, with programmes devoted to Spanish music and historical transcriptions.
Historical instruments
He performs on an 1829 Louis Panormo guitar and on copies of instruments by Antonio de Torres. He has also collaborated with Casa Sors in Barcelona, Galerie des Luthiers in Lyon and the private Frignani Collection.
“...the young generation of Italian guitarists who do not hesitate to take on, with conviction and sensitivity, the task of passing on a repertoire that still deserves to be discovered and championed”Jérôme Leclair · Clic Musique, France
Chamber music
Duo
Palomino-Rocca
Formed by Nicholas Rocca and Juan Pablo Palomino while studying in Stefano Grondona’s class at the Vicenza Conservatoire, the Duo combines performance with research into the traditions of guitar interpretation.
Active in Italy and Spain, the Duo develops programmes centred on Spanish music, historical transcriptions and the performance practice of the two-guitar repertoire. In 2026, to mark the 150th anniversary of Manuel de Falla’s birth, it presented a programme devoted entirely to his music, in both concert and lecture-recital formats.
ProgrammeAlbéniz, Granados and Falla in historical transcriptions by Miguel Llobet and Emilio Pujol.
AwardsOverall First Prize in the Chamber Music category at the 1st “Franco Margola” International Competition in Brescia and the 4th “Giovani Promesse” National Competition in Ghisalba; First Prize at the “Città di Massa” International Competition.
04 / Publications and recordings
Publications and recordings
A selection of essays, commercial releases and recorded performances concerned with repertoire and performance practice.
Essay · 2024
Manuel de Falla’s Homenaje:
context, genesis and analysis
Published in three parts across issues 206–208 of il Fronimo, the study places the Homenaje within Falla’s artistic development and the renewal of Spanish music, examining Felipe Pedrell’s legacy, the reimagining of folk traditions and Falla’s engagement with Parisian musical culture. Drawing on primary sources and correspondence, with particular attention to Miguel Llobet’s role, it reconstructs the work’s genesis and offers a formal and stylistic analysis of the score—from cante jondo and the evocation of Debussy to Falla’s timbral and idiomatic writing for the guitar. The research was also presented as a lecture-recital in collaboration with the Conservatoires of Vicenza and Monopoli.
Discography · Stradivarius, 2025
Manuel María Ponce:
Complete Guitar Sonatas
Rocca recorded Sonata VI (Paganini Sonata) and wrote the accompanying booklet essay, Sonatas for Guitar, or on the Metamorphoses of Manuel Ponce. The album received five stars from Amadeus and was reviewed by Classic Voice, Musica, ClicMag/Clic Musique and Gendai Guitar; the Japanese journal singled out the originality of his interpretation of Sonata VI.