Born in Livorno to an artistic family – his father and grandfather were both famed painters, his mother an accomplished pianist – Oscar Ghiglia had to choose between a path strewn with brushes and colours and a world cut into harmony and melody.

Oscar Ghiglia graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and soon began study with Andrés Segovia, who was his major influence and inspiration during his formative years.

Oscar Ghiglia founded the Guitar Department at the Aspen Music Festival, (Aspen, Colorado, USA) as well as the Festival de Musique des Arcs and the "Incontri Chitarristici di Gargnano", of having been artist in residence, or visiting professor in such centers as the Cincinnati and San Francisco conservatories, the Juilliard School, the Hartt School and the Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois.

Oscar Ghiglia was a founding member of the International Classic Guitar Quartet (with, in different turns: Benjamin Bunch, O. Koga, Anders Miolin, S. Schmidt, and Andreas von Wangenheim).

Bach Lute Works, and a DVD of his favourite repertoire, he continued his concertizing across the oceans, his residencies in the universities of Cincinnati, Ohio, Evanston, Illinois, as well as his summer teaching in the Accademia Chigiana of Siena and his "Incontri Chitarristici di Gargnano", on the shores of Lake Garda.