Lorne Lofsky David Occhipinti Duo
Lorne Lofsky is an internationally recognized jazz guitarist. Born and raised in Toronto, he has been playing professionally for the last 42 years. He has played/toured or recorded with a who’s who of the jazz world, including Oscar Peterson, Ed Bickert, Rob McConnell, Chet Baker, Joey DeFrancesco, Pepper Adams, Ray Brown, Neils Henning Orsted Pederson, Rosemary Clooney, Kirk MacDonald, Dave Holland, and many other respected members of the international jazz community.
In addition, he has been a faculty member at York University’s Fine Arts/Music Program since 1978 and also teaches at the Humber College Community Music Program. Lorne is a mainstay of the Toronto jazz scene and performs extensively in the Greater Toronto Area. He has also given clinics/concerts at St. FX University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and McGill University in Montreal.
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.
