Giorgio Fornasier was born into a family where music played an important role, with his father Tony who loved Opera and his mother Giuseppina who had a beautiful natural soprano voice of. The more problems and difficulties the family had, the more his mother sang. Since he was a child Giorgio dreamed of singing and playing instruments and even played on the electric oven as if it were a piano!
When he was 6 years old his father took him for the first time to an Opera where Giorgio could see and listen to “Don Pasquale” by Donizzetti. The day after he started to sing and imitate the tenor he saw and studied the lyrics of many operas performing famous arias, although he was just a child.
When Giorgio was 9, his eldest brother, Pierangelo, bought for him a mandolin, which became the first instrument he learned to play. He soon learned this, and played in serenades performed with old people living in the same area. Knowing how much Giorgio loved music, the following year, the parish priest, gave him the permission to play and study the organ. Very quickly Giorgio picked this up and was able to soon start accompanying services and vespers.
At the age of 13 years, Giorgio’s voice changed, so he started to study guitar playing alone. Again, he quickly learned how to play and accompany his new voice and is soon able to start performing in solo shows and in his friends’ bands. The Guitar soon became an intrinsic part of him and a fundamental support either during happy or sad moments of his life.
In 1961 Giorgio was among the founders of a Choir singing popular music conducted by Don Sergio Manfroi. This experience became very important for his vocal education and harmony achievement (Giorgio is the second standing from the left).
With his adolescence in the sixties, rock and beat music become more important than Opera and classics. In 1964 he became part of a band named “Le Ombre” that plays originally the music of the famous group “The Shadows” using electric guitars only. Giorgio brought his vocal experience to the band which soon changed and improved its repertoire, especially towards the Beatles songs.
Studying at high school and playing in a band was not so easy and teachers often complained to Giorgio’s parents, but his mother, Giuseppina, knew that music was his life and let him continue his activity. In those times Giorgio had the nick-name “the barber” because he did not go to school on Mondays, when barbers usually close the world wide.
Le Ombre during a winter season in a night club in Cortina d’Ampezzo
In 1965 Giorgio met Maurizia and fell in love. In 1968 he graduated as mechanical engineer, as he promised his mother, and decides to leave the band and the night club life, which was not conducive to the plans he had with Maurizia to build a common life together. Giorgio does continue to play piano and organ in the church and conduct choirs, and concentrates on his composing activity and teaching music to young groups of pupils.