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Giovanni Sollima PDF Print E-mail
sollima.jpgThe cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima was born in Palermo in 1962 in a family of musicians. He studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and composition with his father Eliodoro Sollima at the Conservatorio of Palermo, where he graduated with highest honours. He later studied with Antonio Janigro and Milko Kelemen at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart and at the Salzburg Mozarteum.
Giovanni Sollima undertook a brilliant career as cellist, collaborating with great musicians such as Giuseppe Sinopoli, Eliau Inbal, Jorg Demus and Martha Argerich.
Since 1992 his works have been included in important seasons in all the continents, and performed by musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Mario Brunello, David Geringas, DJ Scanner, Bruno Canino, Larry Coryell; choreographers such as Carolyn Carlson and Karole Armitage; reciting voices such as Robert Wilson and Ruggero Raimondi, writers such as Alessandro Baricco; orchestras such as the Filarmonica della Scala, conducted by Riccardo Muti, the Kremerata Baltica, conducted by Gidon Kremer, the Moscow Soloists, conducted by Yuri Bashmet, the European Union Chamber Orchestra, as well as the more important, Italian, Symphonic and Chamber ensembles.
In the capacity of soloist, or with various musical groups, amongst which the Giovanni Sollima Band, founded by himself in New York with Bang-on-a-Can All Stars elements, from 1995, Sollima performed his music in prestigious places, but also in alternative venues: he played at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Knitting Factory and Merkin Hall in New York, London’s Wigmore Hall, the International Festival of Istanbul, the Kunstfest of Weimar, Roma Europa Festival and the Kuopio Dance Festival in Finland. In addition, Sollima performed on tours throughout the Usa and Canada, at the Venice Biennale, the Ravenna Festival, all prominent Italian festivals and concert seasons and, in July 2002, for the new Ortigia Festival of Siracusa, inaugurated together with Robert Wilson.
Among the numerous compact discs worth mentioning is Aquilarco released in 1997 for Point Music on invitation by Philip Glass. Aquilarco was used as the soundtrack for the hugely successful Italian film entitled I Cento Passi directed by Marco Tullio Giordana. Besides this work for ensemble was used many times in the field of choreography: shows have been performed in Italy, during important dance reviews, abroad at the Teatro Real of Madrid, the Kitchen of New York, the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, the Pennsylvania Ballet of Philadelphia, the San Francisco Ballet and Les Ballets Jazz of Montreal.