Elisa M.

Elisa is a guitarist, composer, arranger and conductor based in Boston, MA.

Despite not being born in a family of musicians, Elisa's musical talent manifested itself since she was a little girl. During preschool and elementary school, her natural inclination towards music was evident in her music classes, where she would play one of those plastic Yamaha recorders that were so popular in schools in the 1990s. Her musicality, sense of rhythm and dynamics were prematurely developed.

Elisa got her hands on a guitar for the first time when she was 11 years old. Her dad bought her a nylon string Yamaha C-60 for Christmas, and, soon after, she started taking lessons with a classical guitar player and teacher, Ugo De Panfilis. With Ugo, she prepared to audition for the Conservatory of Music of L'Aquila "Alfredo Casella", which she entered a couple of years later. At the conservatory, she studied classical guitar with Maestro Filippo Rizzuto and Maestro Riccardo Fiori, and she studied choir repertoire and music with Maestra Rosalinda Di Marco. From the same institution, she obtained a Solfege License, studying with Maestro Claudio Contrevi, and a 5-year Diploma in Classical Guitar.

While attending the Conservatory and high school at the same time, Elisa bought an electric guitar and started her own rock band, Madness Waters, with her friend, bass player and mechanical engineer, Francesco Pignatelli. With the band, she played numerous shows, went on tour and recorded four demos, one of which sponsored by Icarus School of Music of L'Aquila. After high school, she attended the University of L'Aquila, where she got a "110 e lode"—the highest score and laude one could achieve—Bachelor Degree in Linguistic and Intercultural Communication, majoring in English and minoring in Spanish. In the meanwhile, she was still playing, recording and touring with Madness Waters.

After graduating University of L'Aquila, Elisa auditioned for and got accepted into Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Before moving to the United States, she took jazz guitar lessons with Italian guitar player Gianfranco Di Giovanni at Icarus Music Academy in L'Aquila, Italy, where she got the chance to attend a clinic with TV-famous Italian guitarist Luca Colombo and get a private lesson from U.S. American guitar player Neil Zaza, hosted by Icarus and guitar player Michael Petruzziello. She then moved to the United States, in May 2015, and has recently graduated Berklee College of Music.