Alessio Sabella

 

 

     He graduated in Classical Guitar with first class honours at Claudio Merulo Conservatory of Music in Reggio Emilia (Italy). Afterwards, he mastered his knowledge of the 20th century repertoire under the guidance of Professor Francesco Moccia, embarking on a career as a soloist.

 

     At the same time, he founded the experimental rock quintet Athena, with which he released, both as a composer and bass player, two CDs, produced by Pick-up Recordsand the german major label Rising Sun Productions, and distributed over several countries, such as Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Greece, USA and Japan. For years they carried on an intense concert activity, crowned with an important german tour.

 

     After having started the study of Composition under ProfessorAndrea Nicoliat Giacomo Puccini Conservatory of Music in La Spezia, he moved to Lugano in order to pursue his academic curriculum at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana(CSI), where, under the guidance of professors Nadir Vassena, Bruno Zanolini and Giovanni Verrando, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music (Major in Composition) and a Master of Arts in Composition and Theory with first class honours.

 

    He attended several masterclasses and workshops held by representative figures of the contemporary musical scene, such as Helmut Lachenmann, Beat Furrer, Johannes Schöllhorn, Bernhard Lang, Salvatore Sciarrino, Ivan Fedele, Riccardo Nova, Stefano Gervasoni, Tristan Murail, Hugues Dufourt, Pierre-André Valade, Jonathan Harvey.

 

    His compositions were performed by prestigious ensembles, among which we could mention Ensemble Proton Bern,Ensemble Laboratorium, Ensemble Risognanze, Repertorio Zero (R0), Solisten des Tonhalle-Orchesters Zürich, in the framework of outstanding concert and theatrical seasons, such asMilano Musica (Milan), Contaminazioni 1011 (Milan),Dinamiche Scomposte(Florence),Lanterna Rossa – Visual Concerts(Lugano), Oggi Musica (Lugano), Tec Art Eco (Lugano), Les Digitales (Paradiso), Vom Himmel Musikfestival Bern(Bern), Tonkünstlerfest(Zürich),Kammermusik-lunchkonzerte(Zürich), Un automne à tisser(Paris).

 

    His artistic production also includes a large body of theater and multimedia performance art works: most notably, the electroacoustic stage music for Jean-Claude Penchenat’splayGenève-Milano-Paris (performed at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan and the Théâtre de l'Épée de Boisin Paris) andthe design and implementation of the programming/performing environment and the real-time digital sound processing and spatialization system for several audio-visual interactive performances, such as Glimpse, Spazi Enattivi, Bodhi, Tumbit and Relais, enacted in cooperation with Ariella Vidach, Claudio Prati, Paolo Atzori, NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan) and the contemporary dance company AiEP (Avventure in Elicottero Prodotti, Lugano/Milan).

 

    Furthermore, he is a member of EXPractica, an interdisciplinary research collective of artists (ranging from directors, set designers to composers, performers, dancers, etc.) following shared aesthetic aims towards the development and production of experimental multimedia theater performances.

 

    Finally, he took part in an important research project of the DRS (Research and Development Division of CSI) in collaboration with Giovanni Verrando, focused on the study and classification of the New Lutherie, articulated according to its different facets (electric, concrète and digital lutherie). The project resulted in a book entitled “The New Lutherie: Orchestration, Grammar, Aesthetics”, recently issued by the publishing house ESZ (Edizioni Suvini Zerboni).