About

Mario Sollazzo was born in Naples. After graduating in piano and chamber music at the “S. Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome and at Detmold’s Musikhochschule in Germany, he subsequently studied composition at the “Carl Maria von Weber” Musikhochschule in Dresden. He graduated in philosophy at the Tor Vergata University in Rome. He deepened the study on original instruments with Paul Badura Skoda, Alexander Lonquich, Ludger Remy, Johnn Holloway, Stefano Montanari, Simon Standage.

His interpretations are the mirror of a strong personality definied in the reviews as: “alienating but sensational”, “refreshing: a real rethinking of the music and the drama”, “Incredible funny, abysmally tragic”, “we always find a feverish impulse, an inner instability from which historical element emerges tirelessly”, “Practically a sound that becomes a cult”.

He alternates his activities as pianist and fortepianist with that of harpsichordist and conductor, relying on a vast repertoire ranging from baroque to contemporary music with a strong relationship to opera and musical theatre. His interpretations of Dido & Aeneas at the Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni in Modena (Italy) and the recording of the masterpiece by G.B. Pergolesi La Conversione di San Guglielmo received very positive reviews for their instinctive musicality merged with a deep attention to details. His latest CD release Diminuzioni all’improvviso has been recorded during a night, it’s a totally improvised session of harpsichord improvisations in differents styles of the baroque era and is nominated for the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2022. From 2001 to 2010 he founded and directed the group Marammè with which he developed a research work on traditional music of southern Italy. The group has released two records, held over a hundred concerts across Europe and won the Creole World Music Prize in Leipzig. From 2001 to 2006 he was a founding member, together with Stefano Zanobini, of the Congrega de’ Furiosi, an experimental group of ancient music on original instruments and baroque theatre. From 2007 to 2009 he was the music director of the Gregor Seyffert Compagnie Berlin at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau. These and other very heterogeneous experiences merged 2011 in the Ensemble Alraune with which he actually carries out his activity.

He has given concerts for: Gewandhaus Leipzig, Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden, Musikfestspiele Dresden, Amici della Musica Modena, Jeunesse Musical Wien, Cristofori Piano Festival Padova, Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni di Modena, Fondazione Pietà de’ Turchini Napoli, Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica Bologna, Agimus Firenze, Grandezze & Meraviglie Festival Modena, Bachfest Freiberg, Anhaltisches Theater Dessau, Gioventù Musicale Modena, Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia, Rudolstadt Festival, Stiftung Michaelstein, Ekhof Festival Gotha, Villa Pennisi in Musica Festival, Sliven Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), Musica in Villa Torino, Le Printemps du Violon Paris, Alte Musik Festival Bernau, Amiata Piano Festival, Schaubuden Sommer Dresden. Radio broadcasting for MDR and WDR, RSI and RAI.

He recorded for Tactus, Dynamic, KHA and Novantiqua. He collaborates with theater companies and choreographers for whom he was responsible for composition, arrangement and playing of the stage music including those for: “The Magic Flute. II Part” by J.W. Goethe, “The Beggar’s Opera” by J. Gay, “The Storm”, “As you like” and “Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare, “Purcells Traum” by T. Dorst. His compositions has been performed at the Dresdner Tage der Zeitgenössische Musik, Festspielhaus Hellerau, Opernschule of the Musikhochschule in Dresden, StPauli Theater Dresden, Rheinsberg Musikakademie, BKA Berlin, Musikfestspiele in Dresden. Since 2013 he is a member of the ensemble on original instruments Italico Splendore.

From 2001 to 2005 he hold a “Lehrauftrag” at the Musikhochschule in Detmold and from 2017 to 2019 at the Musikhochschule Franz Liszt in Weimar. He taught piano at the conservatories of Benevento and Campobasso. Since 2006 he is professor at the Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali Vecchi-Tonelli in Modena.