GIOVANNI SOLLIMA

 

Giovanni Sollima was born in Palermo in 1962 into a family of musicians. He studied at the Palermo Conservatory and later perfected his artistry at Salzburg Mozarteum and Stuttgart High School of Music and Theatre.

 

He worked with such great artists of the modern age as Martha Argerich, Jörg Demus, Bruno Canino, Ruggero Raimondi, Yo Yo Ma, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Victoria Mullova, Patti Smith, conductors Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti and Giuseppe Sinopoli. The cellist performs at the world’s best concert halls including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), sale Gaveau (Paris). Sollima also performs at venues not typical for classical musicians, such as a knitting factory in New York.

 

Works composed by Sollima enjoy great popularity: he composed works for full and minor orchestras, chamber orchestras and ensembles as well as vocals, choral and piano pieces, and music for theatre pieces. The composer works with such well-known stage directors and choreographers as Peter Greenaway, Peter Stein, Robert Wilson, John Turturro, Karole Armitage, Carolyn Carlson and many others.

 

Giovanni Sollima experiments with different genres of music such as jazz, rock, electronic music, minimalism, Sicily and Mediterranian folk music. The artist plays ethnic instruments as well as instruments invented by himself.

 

The cellist is not only an active performer, he also teaches at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome and the Romanini Foundation in Brescia. He also holds master classes at the famous Kronberg Cello Academy (Germany). Giovanny Sollima plays a cello by Francesco Ruggieri (1679).