Italians mourn classical guitarist

The Milanese maestro Aldo Minella,  a favourite student of Andres Segovia, has died at 82.

Segovia once called Minella ‘one of the four artists of the second generation to whom he is proud to entrust the prestige of the guitar’.

He taught at the Claudio Abbado Conservatorio in Milan and had many international students, among them the American Sharon Isbin.

His daughter the violinist Anna Minella recalls: ‘I remember him playing as soloist at Teatro alla Scala wearing his pajamas under his tuxedo, because he felt more at home like that. Or my mother scolding him when she used to find small ants or ladybirds in his pockets at night, because he would collect them on the road to put safely in the grass at the park, and sometimes forget. His love story with my mother was super, for 50 years…I am sure he is now playing for her finally together again forever.’

Isbin with Minella at Juilliard