Dominick Farinacci
Dominick Farinacci has been recently credited the title Global Ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln Center by Wynton Marsalis, working to further integrate music into communities around the world. He graduated from The Juilliard School in 2005 launching his career in Japan with a prolific run of eight albums, later releasing three more globally. He has performed in more than 120 cities in 14 countries around the world, was a featured guest on ABC’s Good Morning America, and is a TED Speaker. Music icon Quincy Jones says of Dominick’s accomplishments in performance, recording, education and advocacy, “This kid is 360 degrees!”
His most recent recording “Short Stories” (Mack Avenue Records) was produced by 5-time Grammy Award Winner Tommy LiPuma. This was Tommy & Dominick’s first collaboration, and was recorded in their hometown of Cleveland at the Tommy LiPuma Center for the Arts. “Short Stories” brings together popular songs from around the globe surrounded by some of the greatest artists in music, including Steve Gadd, Christian McBride, Jacob Collier and many more.
Dominick is co-creator of Modern Warrior, a new autobiographical music drama of a soldier’s life in the military and his transition back home to civilian life. A collaboration with Staff Sergeant Jaymes Poling from the 82nd Airborne Division, this theater production is scheduled to debut in New York City as part of the NYC Veterans Day Parade celebration in 2017. Anthony Principi, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs, says of this new initiative: Modern Warrior reminds veterans they are not victims and can use their experiences to grow and make significant contributions to society.
In addition to touring around the world with his band, Dominick has been successful in his personal endeavors on bringing music into the community through Arts and Wellness & Education. He was invited by TED to be a TED Speaker at the 2014 TED MED conference at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He is a featured performer for the Cleveland Clinic in both Ohio and Abu Dhabi, and organized the very first jazz performance for patients in Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation. For Dominick, music and health go hand in hand, most recently organizing panel discussions around patient-doctor communication through music with Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
Dominick has been a leading advocate in music education development, most recently featured at the Community College Association of America in D.C. He served as Music Consultant to the Amy Winehouse Foundation and is the creator of Spirit of the Groove, an initiative to unite communities through music. This successful program has since expanded to the GCC in schools such as Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar Music Academy, and the American School of Doha among others. He also launched a music education program at the Tommy LiPuma Center for Creative Arts in Cleveland, Ohio, which brought together 30+ international artists and involved over 3,000 students.
