Roberto Esposito
NB! New Fantasy for two pianos coming out in May 2024!
"A pianist with remarkable versatility and musicality of the highest level"
- Maestro Roberto Cappello
"Music for heart, brain and ears"
- pianist Stefano Bollani
Roberto Esposito was born in Puglia, Italy. First-class honours from the Conservatory A. Boito (Parma, Maestro Roberto Cappello), high acclaim for his final concert there and courses in jazz music encouraged him to continue his studies in Hungary (Maestro Zoltan Szigmond). Further, in 2009, Roberto won a scholarship to attend the Berklee College in Boston. Thanks to the extensive training there, he devoted himself to performing his own compositions.
Roberto has performed with many outstanding musicians such as Fabrizio Bosso, Julian Mazzariello, Katia Ricciarelli, Giuliano Sangiorgi, Tosca, Ron, Renzo Rubino, and has opened concerts for Enrico Rava, Dado Moroni, Alvin Queen, Tuck and Patty. In 2017/18, he performed 5 of the 20 etudes for piano by Philip Glass in collaboration with the composer himself and 3 other pianists from different parts of the world.
Roberto’s debut album, titled “THE DECADES”, was released in 2014. The album consists of 10 original pieces for piano inspired by the folk music of Southern Italy (pizzica, taranta) woven together by jazz improvisations as well as compositional and formal classic patterns such as impromptus, etudes, fantasies and rhapsodies. The release of the album was followed by a world tour (Italy, Denmark, USA, Haiti) in 2014/15.
In 2018, Roberto released his second album “PIANO CONCERTO FANTASTICO” – original music for Piano and Symphonic Orchestra. This was followed by the release of his third album "I mari della Luna" in 2019 which presents his original jazz/rock compositions for trio (piano, drums and electric bass) and was toured in Europe at the end of 2021.
Highlight performances include the Torino 2009 Sound Crossings (Best Pianist Prize), the Tour Music Fest in Rome (Atlantic Palace, Best Pianist Prize) and the Umbria Jazz Festival.
Discography
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The DECADES, Piano SOLO ALBUM (Workin Label 2014)
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Piano Concerto “FANTASTICO” with Symphonic Orchestra (NAXOS 2018)
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I mari della Luna with Trio (Indipendemo 2019)
Concert programmes
1) ROBERTO ESPOSITO – SOLO PIANO
As a versatile pianist, Roberto’s solo performances include his arrangements of well known classical and jazz pieces along with elements of traditional music from the South of Italy. The performance will of course also travel through his 3 albums - “The Decades”, “Piano Concerto Fantastico” and “I Mari della Luna”.
2) I MARI DELLA LUNA TRIO
A classic jazz trio of piano, double bass (or electric bass) and drums will present Roberto’s last album “I Mari Della Luna” which is dedicated to the dark areas on the moon's surface. Ancient astronomers thought that those were made of water and gave them the Latin name of Mare (sea). Only later did the scientists discover that these were plains of basaltic material generated by ancient volcanic eruptions.
3) Piano Concerto No. 1 “Fantastico”
The Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 8, “Fantastico” stems from Roberto’s desire as a pianist and a composer to engage with the major musical structures of the 19th- and 20th-century Classical and Romantic music. While drawing inspiration from the great composers of the past, he injects classical form with the musical idioms closest to his heart - those of jazz and folk music of both his native southern Italy and the Mediterranean.
The opening movements of the concerto look back to earlier times (memories of Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Scriabin) and the sonata structure - exposition, development, recapitulation - but with the sharpness of the language of improvisation adding new light and freshness to these traditional forms (especially in the central part). The two movements are primarily distinguished by the use of two very different keys, namely F sharp minor and B flat minor.
Jazz influences come forward in the central movement. The concerto’s Adagio ironico (in A–B–A form) refers to the big-band tradition of Duke Ellington. The concerto’s finale, Presto, uses melodic fragments typical of the pizzica salentina (a traditional folk dance from Puglia), built on a characteristic triplet-based rhythm (in 4/4 and 12/8). It sets out two contrasting themes, one rhythmical, the other melodic, that unfold along a single harmonic line.