Born in Sicily, 1989 into a family of musicians, cellist and composer Alessio Pianelli was only ten when he was accepted in Giovanni Sollima's class in Palermo Conservatory, where he soon graduated with top marks and distinction.
He has been awarded prizes in several national and international competitions such as AMA Calabria, TIM, Concorso Nazionale di Musica "B. Albanese", Rassegna d'Archi di Vittorio Veneto, Ibla Grand Prize, first prize and "City of Porec" special prize at "Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition 2006"(Croatia), first and audience prize at "Schenk Stiftung Wettbewerb 2013" (Switzerland) and the 2013 "Premio Renzo Giubergia" (Torino).
He was also awarded important scholarships by the Swiss Government, "Lyra Stiftung" and "Nicati de Luze Stiftung" to study cello with Thomas Demenga at the Basel Hochschule für Musik, where he graduated in 2014 with top marks. His training and growth has also been influenced by renowned artists such as M. Polidori, M. Brunello, R. Latzko, M. Kliegel, G. Gnocchi and W.Boettcher.
From 2009 to 2012 he was principal cellist of "Orchestra 1813" (Como, Italy) and "Orchestra dell'Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese" (Trapani, Italy).
Alessio has regularly performed as a soloist in Italy and abroad with symphony and chamber orchestras such as Jugend Basel Kammerorchester Birseck, Melos Filarmonica, Arkedemos Ensemble, Gli Armonici, Orchestra 1813 del Teatro Sociale di Como, Orchestra dell'Ente Luglio Musicale Trapanese, Orchestra giovanile della Sinfonica di Palermo, I Musici di Parma, Aargauer Sinfonie Orchester, Desono chamber orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel.
His performance activity also led him collaborate with outstanding musicians such as M. Brunello, G. Tavares, G. Sollima, I. Monighetti, T. Demenga, S. Simionescu, V. Jacobsen, A. Oprean, F. Benda, A. Kernjak, T. Schabenberger, M. Piketty. Next to his solo performing, Alessio also enjoys chamber music and has toured Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium and Japan as a member of the Avos Piano Quartet.
Alessio is considered an ideal cello consultant and interpreter by numerous same-age composers, whose solo and chamber music works Alessio regularly performs and premieres.
In 2012 he started a musical project to innovating the traditional sicilian Puppet Theater as a member of the Giacomo Cuticchio Ensemble. This sicilian project debuted at the Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome, Italy) in December 2013, after the recent publication of the Ensemble's first album "Quaderno di Danze e Battaglie dell'Opera dei Pupi" (Sonzogno/Egea).
In Sicily Alessio also produced his debut solo album "Prelude" with the genre-defying factory Almendra Music; the tracklist includes solo cello works by J. S. Bach, M. Weinberg, T. Demenga (world premiére recording) and S. Tsintsadze.
In 2014 he has brought out 2 chamber music CDs: chamber music works by Marco Nodari for label "Concerto" and piano quartets op. 47 by R. Schumann and op. 25 by J. Brahms for the japanese label "Livenotes Nami Records".
His composition for 2 cellos "Sulla Quarta" is published by publisher Mueller&Schade, while "Wir Tanzen ???", winner of the composition contest In clausura held during the event 'Cellolandia' at the Ravenna Festival, was published in 2016 by Casa Musicale Sonzogno.
Alessio plays an Evasio Emilio Guerra cello made in Turin in 1921.
