It is fitting that composer and pianist Fabrizio Paterlini, born on February 22, 1973, was born and lives in the ancient city of Mantua in northern Italy. A romantic and historically significant center of musical and artistic excellence, the city's elegance and cultural depth permeate Paterlini's exquisite original compositions for solo piano. Yet despite Mantua's inescapable influence in informing the composer's work, his cinematic music is far from localized or even recognizably Italian but instead taps directly into universal human emotion.
Listeners and critics alike are torn over how best to label Paterlini's beautiful sound. Neoclassicism, ambient, minimalism, and new age are mentioned, but it is more pertinent to note some of the adjectives regularly used to appreciate his sonic palette. Ethereal, soulful, lush, emotional, dreamy, delicate, and, significantly, passionate all appear with unerring frequency. The composer himself describes his work as "like a glass of red wine on a summer evening," aware of the calming effect of his thoughtful melodies on the listener.
Paterlini began playing the piano at the age of six. From the first moment he touched the keys, his life changed irrevocably, music becoming "a choice made every day… explored in all its aspects". And so music and his life path became, and remain, inextricably linked; as he progressed as a musician and composer, his development as a human being runs parallel. Formal study of his chosen artistic path came at age five at the Accademia Campiani, the Academy of Fine Arts in Mantua, where he graduated in Music Theory.
The 1990s saw Paterlini cut his teeth as a touring musician, performing classic rock, pop, and jazz in local bands. While playing with these bands, he began to compose music, which, at this stage, was mainly material from progressive rock persuasion. As the decade and century drew to a close, Paterlini made a momentous decision: to focus exclusively on the piano – the instrument that, in his own words, "best expresses his inner world." Yet it wasn't until 2006 that he began composing music for solo piano.
The following year, his life's musical journey took a momentous step as he released his debut CD, Viaggi in Aeromobile (Travel in Aircraft), on the Music Center label. A collection of gracefully atmospheric, well-structured pieces showcasing Paterlini's natural touch and seemingly effortless talent, the Italian music press warmly received the release.
2008 saw the release of an EP previewing Paterlini's second full-length, Viandanze. Meanwhile, the 8-track Remixed collection presented the composer's material as subtly reworked soundscapes, fitting them comfortably into convincing chillout territory. In 2010, the impeccable CD Fragments Found, again on Paterlini's label, drew comparisons to luminaries such as Ludovico Einaudi, Erik Satie, and George Winston.
In 2011, the double CD set "Fragments Found + Viandanze" was released. In the fall of the same year, he began working on his project "Storie d'Autunno," composing, recording, and publishing online a song for each week of the autumn season, publishing it in February 2012.
In 2013, he released his new full-length album, "Now."
His first album of original songs in three years, Secret Book, was released in May 2017. It is once again different from his previous works, including extensive use of strings and electronics.
In 2018, he released "Winter Stories." He presented the new album from his living room and recorded it with daily live performances, which were streamed on his main social channel during the month of February.
In 2019, he toured Europe mainly with his "Piano Stories 2019 Tour".
In 2023, he released Riverscape. Giovanna Musolino writes about this work:
Riverscape is an album of liquid beauty flowing and insinuating deeply into the soul.
The music is inspired by and from the river and its incessant flow. It is a suite of 13 songs in which electronics, piano, and strings dialogue and paint soundscapes of intense beauty and veiled melancholy.
Paterlini's notes narrate the river and its waters, which follow their perpetual and unstoppable course, capturing its voice, colors, moods, changes, suggestions, emotions, and enchantment.
