Paolo Russo bandoneon

PAOLO RUSSO - pianist, bandoneonist and composer

Welcome to Paolo Russo’s unique music universe: a journey across Italian flavours, classical tones, Nordic landscapes, free improvisations, with a distant echo of Argentinean tango.

Born in Pescara (Italy) in 1969, he lives in Copenhagen (Denmark) since 1996. He started his studies with the cembalist Chiara Tiboni and graduated at “Conservatorio L. D’Annunzio” in Pescara, in 1993 (teacher: Rachele Marchegiani). In 2002, he graduated at the prestigious Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen. During the past 21 years, he developed a very intense music activity, with performances all around Europe, as well as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Japan, Faroe Islands, Thailand, Tanzania, Mozambique, Algeria, Russia, USA, Greenland and Cuba. He studied in New York with Richie Beirach (1995) and in Buenos Aires with Néstor Marconi (2004/2013).

In 2001, he started playing the bandoneon and discovered a new way of expressing his inner voice, including it more often in his own productions. He has released 12 albums (“Alchemy” – Splasch Records 2004; “Oltretango” – Dodicilune 2005; “Doble A-nima” – Dodicilune 2007; “Nuevo trio porteño” – Bro Recordings 2008; “Il segreto” – Bro Recordings 2009; “Evocándote” – Bro Recordings 2010; “Archipelago” – Gateway 2013; “Fellini Goes Jazz” – Zina Zinetti Music 2014; “Bandoneon Solo – Vol. I” – Zina Zinetti Music 2015; “Kattegat” – Zina Zinetti Music 2016; Tangology” – Storyville 2017; “Bandoneon Solo – Vol. II” – Zina Zinetti Music 2017) – and recorded on about 50 albums of various artists. He has played and recorded with many different international musicians.

Among these, Stefano Bollani, Paolo Fresu, Pablo Ziegler, Eliel Lazo, Nico Gori, Jesper Bodilsen, Minino Garay, Karima Nayt, Josefine Cronholm, Thommy Andersson, Caroline Henderson, Poul Krebs, Etta Cameron, Bo Stief, Lelo Nika, Gianluigi Trovesi, Diego Figueiredo, Diego Schissi, Kenny Werner, Thomas Clausen, Ruslan Vilensky, Harold Lópes- Nussa, Calixto Oviedo, Julie Eskær.

Furthermore, he works also as composer and soloist for string quartet, string orchestra, symphony orchestra and other ensembles, as well as for theatre, film and TV. He has performed in some of the most important concert halls in the world: Berliner Konzerthaus (Berlin); Musikverein (Wien); Carnegie Hall (New York City); Symphony Space (New York City). His last release, the instrumental work Tangology, composed for octet (with the brilliant interpretation of the Ensemble Midtvest), was presented in New York City in March 2016, in Italy and in Denmark in 2016 and 2017.

Coming up next (October 2017): ”Paolo Russo Bandoneon Solo Vol.II – Originals”, an anthology of his own compositions for bandoneon, both as CD and sheet music; his recent work Imaginary Soundtrack, inspired by the magic world of Italian film music, a brave attempt of presenting a soundtrack without a movie, inviting the audience to create in their mind, while listening, their own pictures, characters, scenographies and dialogues. Finally, Eskar Trio meets Paolo Russo, is a new collaboration with one of the most prominent and active Scandinavian piano trios.

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