biographies

AKO ITO was born in Sapporo, Japan. She started playing the guitar with her father (who was a reknown artist) at the age of 8. Simultaneously she studied the piano and voice until the age of 18. Then, she attended Junior College in Monterey (California). She worked with Ida Presti for the first time in Canada in 1962, and later several times in Nice (the French Riviera). Two years later, she entered the University of Southern California, where she received a complete musical education including studies of theory, interpretation, directing, history, harmony,and music ensemble .She started giving numerous concerts as a soloist in the US at that time

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Her mastership of the classical guitar enabled her to play for the greatests guitarists of our century and to take the best from each of them. She was the pupil of ANDRES SEGOVIA for two long term masterclasses, the first in 1965 in California and the second the following year in Santiago de Compostella. In 1966, she also worked with Julian Bream in England. The same year she met Henri and a few months after she decided to live in Nice. Since then, she has been enjoying teaching students from all over the world. Her non-musical interests include astrology and her four cats.

HENRI DORIGNY was born in France and studied guitar in Nice, mostly with one of the bests classical guitar duos of the 1960' s: the Presti-Lagoya duo, at the "Académie Internationale d' Eté". In 1963, he was appointed as classical guitar teacher at the National Conservatory in Nice (French Riviera) and he started giving numerous concerts at that time. He also had his teacher' s diploma, the "certificat d' aptitude", which is the highest degree in this field. His deep understanding of all musical periods enables him to transcribe any piece very faithfully for his duo. Moreover, he has an amazing technique, especially for arpeggios trills and tremolo (he may be one of the fastests in the world). His other passions are old cars, cooking, and above all else popular American music, which he enjoys playing with instruments like dobro guitar, electrical guitar , banjo and bass.

Ako Ito and Henri Dorigny met in 1966 and their duo, immediately formed, was rapidly successful in France. In 1970, they toured Japan for the first time where they were invited by the "Tokyo Philarmonic Orchestra". Since then, they have done over 50 tours throughout Europe, Canada, the USA, the Near East and Japan, giving masterclasses at the same time. They have played and taught for the "Shawnigan-Lake Summer School of the Arts", the "Musical Youth of Canada" at the "Center of Arts" in Oxford, the "French Association for Artistic Action", the "Festival Concert Society", the "Musical Youth of France", the "Ouverture Concerts" (Canada), and for the "Helen Jennings Concert Agency" (London"). They have done 15 tours in Canada and the USA and 4 tours in Japan for the "Akai &C." and for the "Association française pour l' action artistique". They have also been invited to play in many festivals, such as the "Edinburgh festival" (Scotland), the "Festival du Naumurois" (Belgium), the "Carmel Bach Festival" (California), the "festival of British Columbia", the "Orford Festival" (Canada), and the famous festival in Toronto (Canada) in 1975, where they were acclaimed as "musicians of the highest sommets" by the critics and the public. The Ito-Dorigny classical guitar duo has influenced many guitarists (such as the Assad duo for their CD of Rameau, for example) and has inspired John Duarte for his "suite française", which he dedicated to them.