Marco Sollazzo is an Italian composer, oud player, and improviser based in Scotland. His work develops a personal musical language where memory, place, and sound become inseparable.
Born in Naples, he studied double bass, jazz, and composition at the Conservatory of Parma, developing an early balance between structure and improvisation that continues to shape his practice.
A formative decade in Türkiye deeply transformed his artistic direction. Immersed in oud practice, Turkish makam, and modal traditions, he encountered music as a living cultural force, inseparable from daily life and oral transmission. Within this environment, the oud became a central voice in his work, emerging from a tension between belonging and distance.
He later completed an MA in Music with Distinction at Edinburgh Napier University.
His current work integrates Mediterranean modal traditions, contemporary composition, and improvisation into a continuously evolving musical language. The oud functions as both structural and expressive voice across solo, duo, and ensemble formats.
He performs internationally in festival, listening room, and cross-genre contemporary music contexts.