Virtuoso guitarist Al Di Meola has been signed up as one of highlights at this year’s Malta Jazz Festival.

The multiple award-winning guitarist has been recognised over the past 35 years as a prolific composer and respected artist, his dazzling technique on both acoustic and electric guitars winning him plaudits among both jazz and rock audiences.

Di Meola, 58, will be performing with his band World Sinfonia and guest pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba on July 19.

It will be Di Meola’s second visit to the Malta Jazz Festival, a musical extravaganza which has been staged yearly since 1990. The guitar wizard’s performance in 1993 is widely acclaimed as one of the memorable performances staged at Ta’ Liesse.

Di Meola was one of the acclaimed guitar trio with fellow superstars John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia, was part of the fusion supergroup Return To Forever with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White, though he is widely acclaimed for a series of fine solo albums, especially with his band World Sinfonia. His last album, Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody, was released last year.

Organised by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, under the artistic direction of jazz musician Sandro Zerafa, the Malta Jazz Festival forms part of the Malta Arts Festival. The official line-up is expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks.