Ten String Guitar
Classical Guitar
Writings
- Classical Guitar
- Ten String Guitar
- Writings
My Music
I'm Leonardo De Marchi, a classical guitarist from Venice, and my music moves between two instruments: the six-string classical guitar and the ten-string guitar. My work spans chamber music, contemporary repertoire written with living composers and nineteenth-century music played on period guitar copies. Discover the two paths that shape my research as a performer, editor and author.
Latest News
-
12 DEC 2026
Latest Album
This album is entirely dedicated to Fernando Sor, a central figure in nineteenth-century guitar literature, and to his genre pieces designed for the bourgeois salons of Paris. The tracks were recorded on a period guitar replica built by Fabio Zontini and through the study of historical performance practice, presented with a particular focus on improvisation.
My Albums
My discography reflects my primary areas of research, although it does not exhaust them entirely.
“For me, music is about being in connection.”
Leonardo De Marchi
Chamber
Music
Chamber music is at the heart of my work as a guitarist. I perform in a duo with soprano Maria Eleonora Caminada, clarinetist Sauro Berti, and flutist Federica Lotti, and I am a founding member of Ensemble _Codec, devoted to contemporary music and live electronics. Discover the ensembles and recordings behind a repertoire ranging from the nineteenth century to new music.
_Codec
Ensemble _Codec is an Assisi-based group entirely dedicated to contemporary music. Its members perform highly experimental works, exploring in particular the interaction between acoustic instruments and live electronics. Since 2019, Ensemble _Codec has promoted an extensive production of Audio-Video recordings and organized international calls for scores, aiming to premiere and disseminate works that possess both great musical and intellectual value.
Duo Caminada-De Marchi
Traditional Lieder and new sounds. The duo with Maria Eleonora Caminada moves through 20th-century repertoire with a versatility of styles and languages, ranging from songs to the most daring experimentation.
Duo Berti-De Marchi
An ensemble exploring the diverse combinations between the clarinet and guitar families, dedicated to repertoire from the second half of the 20th century to the present day.
Duo Lotti-De Marchi
Whether dealing with Biedermeier grace or serialism, this ensemble eclectically covers literature from the birth of the guitar as a single six-string instrument to the present day.
My Books
I write about the instrument I play. My two books, written in Italian, trace the story of the ten-string guitar: Nuovi orizzonti per la chitarra a dieci corde (Viator, 2018) and E se sei corde vi sembran poche (Blonk, 2021), alongside my articles for the journal Il Fronimo. Discover the books that tell this story from the inside - in my own words, for curious listeners.
Book
E se sei corde vi sembran poche
Playing the ten-string guitar is anything but a simple choice: it demands a great deal of inventiveness, patience, and even a few sacrifices. Yet it reveals extraordinary sounds you never imagined, and teaches you how rewarding it can be to work with your own limits.
Find more
Book
Nuovi orizzonti per la chitarra a dieci corde
The ten-string guitar is an instrument with a clearly defined sound identity, born from the collaboration between composer Maurice Ohana and guitarist Narciso Yepes.
Find more
