Daniele Damiano originally wanted to learn jazz trumpet at music college, but his lips weren’t right for it. In the next room he heard a bassoon and was so enthralled by its sound that he wanted to try this instrument out himself. He completed his studies »summa cum laude« at the Verdi Conservatory of Turin in 1982 in the bassoon division. He started his career as an orchestral musician in 1981 as a member of the international youth orchestra Jeunesses Musicales. Before coming to the Berliner Philharmoniker he was principal bassoon in the RAI (Italian Radio) Orchestra of Turin (1982-85) and in the Wiener Symphoniker (1985-87). During his time in Vienna he studied with Milan Turkovic. Damiano is also much sought after as a soloist and has appeared with all the orchestras mentioned as well as various others in Europe. As a chamber-music player, the bassoonist belongs to the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Octet, the Philharmonic Octet and Ensemble Wien-Berlin. In 1993 he recorded the Piano-Wind Quintets of Mozart and Beethoven with Daniel Barenboim and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The disc was awarded a Grammy. Daniele Damiano has taught at the Salzburg Mozarteum (1992-94), the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena (1993-98) and the Geneva Conservatoire (1999-2001). The musician loves to fly and is a pilot himself. Performed at the Festival in 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 2011 2013 2014.