Artist Scoop

Italian cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima

Italian musician Giovanni Sollima enjoys a two-fold career as a composer and as a solo cellist, touring and performing all over the world at venues which include Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Knitting Factory and Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall, London, Salle Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Auditorium Santa Cecilia in Rome, at Festivals in Istanbul, Weimar, Frankfurt, Finland, Tokyo, Ravenna, Spoleto, and at the Venice Biennale. He has collaborated with the likes of Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jörg Demus and Martha Argerich, and also performs with ensembles including his own Giovanni Sollima Band, founded in 1995. Sollima combines elements of classical, rock and jazz music with ethnic flavours from Sicily, North Africa, the Middle East, Andalusia and other Mediterranean countries in his compositions. His music has been performed by solo musicians ranging from Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Viktoria Mullova, Bruno Canino, Ruggero Raimondi and Katia Labèque, to Larry Coryell, DJ Scanner, American singer-songwriter Patti Smith, and Italian rockstar Elisa. Sollima’s orchestral works have been commissioned and performed by orchestras and conductors including La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra/Riccardo Muti, Kremerata Baltica/Gidon Kremer, the Moscow Soloists/Yuri Bashmet, the Orchestra Comunale of Bologna/Daniele Gatti and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. Sollima has composed for well-known film and theatre directors and choreographers. Giovanni Sollima's website is http://www.giovannisollima.it

Giovanni Sollima performs Boccherini's Cello Concerto No. 3 in G major and is the solo cellist in his own composition "L.B. Files" in the upcoming Giovanni Sollima & CCOHK concert. Be sure not to miss this performance!

The following Youtube links show the diverse talent of Giovanni Sollima:

Sollima plays his composition Violoncello Vibrez for 10 cellos with YoYoMa

Sollima plays two of his own compositions "Terra Aria" and "Concerto Rotondo" on these Daydream videos, Parts 1 and 2

We Were Trees

Solo playing by Giovanni Sollima: link 1 and 2

Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze

Giovanni Sollima plays on an electric cello

Giovanni Sollima plays on an ice cello