Alessandro Papotto is born in Rome in 1973 and approaches music at the age of 6. He obtains at a very young age his first three musical Diplomas: in Clarinet, in Chamber Music and in Jazz. He continues his studies at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory in Rome where he also obtaines the Diploma in Composition with full marks, and the Degree with honors in Jazz Music Disciplines (Interpretative-Compositional Address). At the same institute he also attends Composition Masterclass with Maestro Nicola Piovani, with Maestro Giorgio Battistelli and with Maestro Enrico Pieranunzi.
The profession of concert artist began around the age of 15 with chamber music concerts in the most varied ensembles (clarinet quartet, trio with violin and piano, clarinet and string quartet, wind quintet, etc.). With one of these ensemble, the “Sebes Trio”, he wins the Absolute First Prize at the International Chamber Music Competition “Anèmos” in Rome and at the National Chamber Music Competition “Città di Vasto”. The concert activity also continues as a soloist and as First Clarinet in numerous symphonic orchestras such as “Orchestra Sinfonica del Terzo Millennio” conducted by Maestro Renato Serio, “Santa Cecilia Jazz Orchestra” conducted by Maestro Paolo Damiani, “Fiati Italiani” conducted by Maestro Eugenio Colombo, and many others.
The youthful passion for Rock, and in particular for Progressive Rock, favors the birth of his first compositional experiences consisting of the original songs written, since 1993, for his rock band “Periferia Del Mondo”. With this ensemble he releases four studio records and four live records recorded during concerts in Italy, Portugal and Belgium. The study and experimentation of new musical instruments such as the saxophone, the flute, the piano, synthesizers, percussion, up to the use of the voice, also dates back to this period.
From the meeting in 1997 with the guitarist and composer Massimo Alviti, the project “Le Immagini della Musica” was born, a fertile musical partnership full of ideas of contamination between music and the visual arts, which stimulates the writing of new original songs, compositions that lightly cross the worlds of Classical Music, Jazz and World Music. The “sound images” of the project with Alviti are the basis of the numerous concerts that the duo offers both in Italy and abroad, sometimes supported by the precious collaboration of other talented musicians.
The experience gained with “Periferia Del Mondo” and the collaborations with some of the musicians who have made the history of Italian Progressive Rock such as Francesco Di Giacomo (BANCO) and Mauro Pagani (PFM), lead to the meeting with the historic rock band “BANCO del Mutuo Soccorso” of which he became a permanent member from 1999 to 2014. During his long militancy in the band “BANCO” as a multi-instrumentalist he recorded six albums, some of which for Sony Music such as “No Palco” (2003), “40 Anni” (2012), “Darwin! Live” (2013), and “Un’idea che non puoi fermare” (2014). Moreover, since 1999 he has participated in all the tours of the band, both in the electric version and in the acoustic version, playing in Italy, Europe, Canada, United States, Mexico, Panama, Brazil and Japan.
In the meantime he began to work in the world of soundtracks for cinema, theater and television, collaborating as a soloist with various composers and lending the voice of his wind instruments in the television series with Massimo Ghini “La Omicidi” (2004), in the theater show with Silvio Orlando “Se non ci sono altre domande” (2011), in the film by Edoardo Falcone “Se Dio vuole” (2015), in the film by Francesco Bruni “Tutto quello che vuoi” (2017), in some films by Paolo Virzì including “Caterina va in città” (2003), “Notti Magiche” (2019), “La prima cosa bella” (Nastro d’argento as best film 2010), “La pazza gioia” (Nastro d’argento as best soundtrack and David di Donatello as best film 2017) and in the film by Mario Tronco and Gianfranco Cabiddu “Il Flauto Magico di Piazza Vittorio” (David di Donatello as best musician 2020).
The curiosity for the world of acting leads him to participate as a musician-actor in various theatrical performances including: “Korova Milkbar” (1999) by Ivano De Matteo, adaptation of “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess inspired by the homonymous film by Stanley Kubrick, “Tracce di mandorle e sangue” (2008), original by Gaia Insenga and Fabrizio Emigli, “Storia del Soldato” (2016) adaptation of “Histoire du Soldat” by Igor Stravinsky, with Iaia Forte and the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio.
The experiences in theater and cinema stimulate his compositional vein once again: he wrotes the original music for the theatrical performances “Sarà presto sera e sarai interrogato sull’amore” by Davide Aricò (2013) and “Il volo dell’Albatros” (2018) by Angela Villa, one sound commentary for the feature film “Un giorno di lavoro” (2010) produced by the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana, the soundtrack for the documentary “In viaggio nella Basilica di Sant’Elia” (2019) produced by Clivis APS with the contribution of the Carivit Foundation, and the soundtrack for the docu-film “Fellini e il Sacro” (2020) produced by the Salesian Pontifical University.
The commissions of some big jazz bands and some symphonic orchestras mark the turning point towards writing for great ensembles: some arrangement of pop songs for the “OGM – Orchestra Giovanile di Montemario”, the arrangement for choir and symphony orchestra of “Another brick in the wall” by Pink Floyd for the “Orchestra Sinfonica Città di Roma”, some original jazz tracks for the “Santa Cecilia Jazz Orchestra”, the composition of commissioned symphonic pieces such as the fantasies “Tempus Fugit” and “Abiogenesis” performed by several orchestras in the context of important national music festival such as “Il mito e il sogno” promoted by the Ancient Roman Theater of Ostia Antica.
During his musical career he recorded records and performed live with, among others:
Soft Machine, John Wetton (King Crimson), Avion Travel, Angelo Branduardi, Eugenio Finardi, Gianluca Grignani, New Trolls, Le Orme, Indaco, Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, Franz Di Cioccio (PFM), Mauro Pagani (PFM), Francesco Di Giacomo (Banco), Gianni Nocenzi (Banco), James Senese, Javier Girotto, Stefano Di Battista, Ernesto Bassignano, Morgan, Federico Zampaglione, John De Leo (Quintorigo), Maurizio Solieri, Cesareo (Elio e le storie tese), and many others.