During his adolescence he plays and improvises as a self-taught, trying his hand at the accordion and saxophone, attracted by the radio sounds that circulate between popular music and jazz. 

Stimulated by the presence of his uncles and his mother a singer, passionate amateur musicians, already at the age of 12 he began to perform in festive musical evenings in the summer. At 14 he began piano studies privately. At that time he decided to devote himself entirely to music. He was fascinated by an instrument that was very popular at the time: the clarinet, with which he brilliantly graduated from the “N. Paganini” Conservatory in Genoa (1960). He later completed his composition studies under the guidance of Bruno Bettinelli, graduating from the “A. Boito”Conservatory  in Parma (1972). 

            The figure of Clarinetist__________

In a few years he won five National Competitions and, in 1963, the Geneva Competition which opened the doors to international concertism. From 1963 to 1966 he was first clarinet in the Symphony Orchestra of the RAI in Rome and later at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan (1966-1973). 

He undertook a long research study on new clarinet techniques and multiphonic material (1969-1976). The work, later summarized in the Method for clarinet (published by Suvini Zerboni), reaches international acclaim. 

He holds seminars in England (in London at King's College, at Guilford University and at Swansea University) as well as in Israel (in Tel Aviv, at Radio and at Haifa University). In 1982 he toured the Soviet Union (Moscow, Minsk, Kursk and Riga). 

He also begins a collaboration with Casa Ricordi for a total updating of the clarinet repertoire by opening the catalog to rarities and new music.

 He was invited at the International Commissions of the competitions of Geneva, Prague, and Toulon. 

From 1970 to 1990, he taught chamber music for wind instruments at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory in Milan. 

From 1972 he was invited by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena to hold a new clarinet specialization course. In those years he played in duo with important pianists such as Sergio Lorenzi, Bruno Canino, Pier Narciso Masi. With Nikita Magaloff  he gives concerts in the major European halls (including the "Grosse Saale" of the Concertgebow in Amsterdam). 

He participates in chamber music formations with Franco Gulli, Salvatore Accardo, Janos Starker, Piero Farulli, Guido Agosti. He has recorded for RAI a large part of the clarinet solo repertoire in cycles  that have been broadcast for thirty years. 

For the significant solo activity he received various national awards including the "Diapason d'oro" of RAI (1971) and "Il Viotti d'Oro" in Vercelli (1980).   

            The role of Conductor__________

Through all that making music and, after studying composition, a much broader artistic perspective gradually develops.

 In 1973 he founded the Ensemble Garbarino made up of highly skilled and talented musicians.

 In 1983 he founded the Sammartini Orchestra of Milan and subsequently, in 1984, the Chamber Orchestra of Fiesole (Florence). Subsequently, from 1989 to 2003, he was a teacher of the Youth Orchestra of the High Specialization Course of Saluzzo (I Filarmonici di Torino). In 1994 he held a course in "Italian music of the 20th century" at the European Mozart Foundation in Krakow (Poland) directed by Krzysztof Pendereki. 

The stubborn curiosity to try his hand at the most varied repertoires led him to experiment with the most unique programs and to discover new musical horizons. Strong passion, determination, linked to a growing experience, are later declined in orchestral conducting. The Grabarino Ensemble (with Garbarino conductor and soloist) made its debut at the Teatro Alla Scala in Milan in the 1970s (at the time of Paolo Grassi Superintendent). It presents cycles dedicated to 'new music': "Homage to Bruno Bettinelli" (February 3, 1976), "Profile of Soviet Composers" (March 3, 1976) and "Homage to Goffredo Petrassi" (February 28, 1981). 

An Ensemble that, in a few years, after numerous concerts in the main Italian theaters and associations, becomes a primary instrument in Europe for the diffusion of 20th-century and contemporary music. He achieved international fame by participating in broadcasts at various radio and television organizations (BBC, NCRV, ORF, RTE, RSI, RAI).

 Celebrities collaborate with the Ensemble: Katy Berberian, Dorothy Dorow, Slavka Taskova, Liliana Poli, Elly Ameling. 

Following this activity, in 1985, Garbarino was unanimously elected President of the Italian Section of the ISMC (International Society for Contemporary Music), encouraged by Goffredo Petrassi and Mario Peragallo, who had been presidents in the past. Garbarino dedicated himself to this activity for over twenty years, devising various projects to support young composers and instrumentalists, also in collaboration with the international sections of the ISMC. 

Between the 80s and 90s Garbarino, with his Ensemble, collaborated with the musicologist Enzo Restagno organizing annual meetings with famous composers at the Concert Society of La spezia. “Homage Evenings” in which Luigi Nono, Goffredo Petrassi, Franco Donatoni, Yannis Ksenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, Niccolò Castiglioni, Roman Vlad participate.

 Later he further intensified his conducting career with the “Sammartini Orchestra of Milan” (1984), with the aim of re-proposing a vast repertoire "From the dawn of the Italian vocal and instrumental nineteenth-century symphony", then still little known. The inauguration is entrusted to the esteemed friend Carlo Zecchi. Various artists collaborate on it such as the soprano Raina Kabaiwanska, the violinist Felix Ayo, the flautist Maxence Larrieu. 

In Italy he has conducted symphonic programs at various theaters, as well as the RAI Symphony Orchestras of Milan and Turin, abroad the Filarmonica Nacional de España, in Paris at the Champs Elysees Theater the Pasdeloup Orchestra, in Zagreb the Philharmonic, in Sofia at the "Sal Bulgaria" the Radio Orchestra. 

In 1991 he created a partnership between "Settembre Musica" of Turin and the Toscanini Orchestra of Parma with the aim of realizing a choice of programs of new music to be disseminated abroad. Garbarino, guest conductor, on that occasion, can have a very select group of musicians directing three programs of new Italian music. The project was presented in New York (1991) in collaboration with the Italian Embassy, in 1993 in Athens in the Aula Magna of the university and in 1994 in Paris at the Center Pompidou. 

Since 1989, the Ente Arena di Verona has entrusted him with a new assignment: the "May of contemporary music" Festival at the Philharmonic Theater. Garbarino conducts new symphonic productions and ballets such as “The Marvelous Mandarin” by Béla Bartók (choreography by Pistoni of Teatro Alla Scala di Milano), “Arcana” by Edgard Varèse, “La Follia d'Orlando” by Goffredo Petrassi, “Jeux “by Claude Debussy, as well as the “Mass” and “Symphony of Psalms” by Igor Stravinsky, as well as pieces by Luigi Dallapiccola, Francesco Malipiero, Paul Hindemith, Francesco Donatoni, Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg, Nicolò Castiglioni, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono, Giacinto Scelsi. He also presents classical programs including a tour with Mozart's Requiem until 1996.

As a composer Garbarino has created a considerable number of didactic works, soloists (for various instruments), pieces for chamber groups, large ensembles and symphonic works. Many of these are published by Ricordi, Carisch, Eufonia

            Bibliography__________

• Dictionary of Music and Musicians - Appendix - ed. UTET

• Dictionary of musical performers – ed. Tea, UTET dictionaries, 1993 (ISBN 88-7819-195-7)

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