David Occhipinti
Bio

“It's definitely music for today, streamlined yet atmospheric...a listener hears the rare but gratifying combination of lyricism and cutting-edge music."
Geoff Chapman - The Toronto Star

“…eight new compositions that blend the elegance of chamber music with the spontaneity of jazz improvisation. Camera Lucida paints vivid musical portraits that reflect Occhipinti’s boundless creativity.”
Christopher Gonda - V13

“Ultimately, Camera Lucida is an album for lovers of art in its broadest sense. Whether you come from the world of jazz or classical music, you will encounter here a rare intellectual clarity and an artistic sincerity that are instantly compelling.”
Thierry de Clemensat – Paris Move

David Occhipinti is a Canadian composer and guitarist whose music crosses borders from jazz and improvised music, into contemporary classical music and beyond. David has received two Chalmers Arts Fellowships, as well as JUNO nominations for his work as a recording artist. Among his nominated works are his critically acclaimed album Forty Revolutions in 2007; and Duologue, in collaboration with saxophonist Mike Murley, in 2003.

David’s latest release (2026), Looking Glass, features compositions for electric guitar and string trio. Compositions on it are inspired by dadaist artists, and also by the Lewis Carroll novels on compositions such as The Frumious Bandersnatch, which explore extended techniques on a modified electric guitar that take the listener into new sound worlds.

David’s Camera Ensemble released Camera Lucida, in 2025, which has eight tracks that feature chamber music compositions along with improvisational elements. Camera (2012) was the first recording with the ensemble, and was heralded by David’s late mentor, New York guitarist, Jim Hall as: “an absolute gem… his writing is unique, his playing is completely original and stunning… an absolute work of art!"

The 2019 release, these out of infinite, features David’s works for the voice with text by Dylan Thomas, James Joyce, e.e. cummings, T.S. Elliot, Emily Carr, Emily Brontë, and Emily Dickinson. Fanfare magazine wrote, “Occhipinti’s settings are stellar and hypnotic....like George Crumb... sheer delight. It breathes freshness and clarity.”

David’s recorded work has been featured on the CBC and BBC.

David’s first orchestral work, Saturnia (2022), was part of the Toronto Symphony’s ‘Explore the Score’ reading event that occurred at Roy Thomson Hall in October of 2022. David received a commission from the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra to compose a piece for brass and percussion. The premiere performance of En Passant was in Ottawa on May 1st, 2022 with Jean-Michel Malouf conducting.

A world premiere recording of Net of Gems, for flute and harp, appears on a recent recording by Suzanne Shulman and Erica Goodman. David has also had his compositions commissioned or recorded by a wide-ranging list of artists- including percussionist Beverley Johnston, Kairos Percussion Quartet, Arraymusic Ensemble, Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, and Random Access Large Ensemble.

David has performed and toured across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Japan. He has performed Canadian premieres of works by Steve Reich and Gabriel Prokofiev. David has been based in Toronto for most of his career, but during the 1990s he also spent some time studying in New York City with Jim Hall, and three years living in Italy.

(Camera)

"David Occhipinti has created an absolute gem [Camera]. His writing is unique, his playing is completely original and stunning. His music is an absolute work of art!"
-Jim Hall

"[Camera] Very strong, original writing. I hope it receives the attention it deserves!"
- Ben Monder

"Frank Zappa meets Stravinsky...a master composer and performer. I thoroughly enjoyed playing his music!"
- Beverley Johnston (played marimba on Camera)

"Beautiful work... Lyrical, challenging, and intelligent"
- Mike Murley (Saxophonist)

"When you listen to David Occhipinti’s chamber ensemble, Camera, you’re in a landscape that’s unfamiliar but refreshing. The Toronto-based guitarist and composer folds together jazz and classical idioms to create music that’s both virtuosic and evocative."
-Dig Magazine

"A guitarist with a unique style that blends influences from jazz to pop to contemporary classical music. He is a wonderful accompanist with an excellent sense of time, space and texture. I love all the sounds that David produces on the guitar."
- Mike Murley (from a magazine article)

“I’m working with a great guitar player here named David Occhipinti.
It’s one of those groups where David writes very fluently and fluidly in all genres but he’s kind of carved out his own niche and carved out his own sound. His music really challenges me in a way that I haven’t been challenged as far as exploring time signatures and different kinds of moods. It’s the type of music that doesn’t have any precedent so the four of us really create a sound that isn’t jazz, it isn’t classical, it isn’t folk, it’s just really good music.”

-drummer Terry Clarke (in an interview with Renee Rosnes for CBC radio)

(Forty Revolutions...)"Occhipinti's rare achievement is to say something new and moving in an idiom that could be considered exhausted, while also demonstrating that jazz played softly can have a mighty impact."
"The fourth album of original music from guitarist Occhipinti, who toured its suave, sophisticated music throughout Canada this past October, will surely make a number of 2007's top ten lists. It's a meticulous tapestry of tonal nuance and understated passion. A glowing, seven-tune album that should grace any guitar lover's rack - any jazz lover's rack in fact." -Geoff Chapman Coda Magazine

"Excellent chamber jazz from some of Canada's best conceptualists."
-Jazzeast Rising

"...it's the work of a mature artist with compelling, longer tunes, full of atmosphere and gradually evolving melodies."
-EDMONTON JOURNAL

"(Intersection)...It's definitely music for today, streamlined yet atmospheric...a listener hears the rare but gratifying combination of lyricism and cutting edge music."
-Geoff Chapman THE TORONTO STAR

"Syzygy...a stylish, appealing follow-up to his self-titled debut CD of two years ago... contributes a delectable impressionist three-movement work for solo instrument entitled "Triptych". He's outstanding on "Ultimo Tango", "Manhattan" and "Id"."
-THE TORONTO STAR

"Syzygy has synergy"
"Toronto jazz man is the real thing...no flash in the pan"
-EDMONTON JOURNAL

(Debut...)"David Occhipinti probably couldn't ask for a better showcase than his eponymously titled debut ...a postmodern acoustic date that thrives on the guitarist's memorable, contemporary-sounding tunes...while recalling the impressionistic, delicate beauty of Occhipinti's hero, Jim Hall."
-JAZZIZ magazine

"...this exciting, intelligent, passionate (debut) CD that spans jazz and new music surely puts David Occhipinti in the top ranks of Toronto's massed guitar army"
-THE TORONTO STAR

"Guitarist David Occhipinti is a lyrical player whose work touches on deep emotional reserves..."
-TORONTO LIFE

"satiny-toned guitarist...mood-evoking compositions ...this CD is a calling card Occhipinti can be proud of"
-CALGARY HERALD

"Toronto guitarist impresses as a diligent, thoughtful composer with his debut disc."
-OTTAWA CITIZEN

"well crafted...inspired creativity...an excellent debut."
-THE JAZZ REPORT

live..."delicate touch, intelligent and relaxed, tasteful rhythmic displacement and thematic development...one of the best jazz performances in the last few months"
-L'ECO DI BERGAMO (Italy)