BIO
Marco Sollazzo is an Italian composer, oud player, and improviser based in Scotland, creating immersive sonic worlds through modality, composition, and cross-genre exploration.
Originally from Naples, he studied double bass, jazz, and composition at the Conservatory of Parma before spending ten years in Türkiye studying oud, Turkish makam, and modal music at the Ege University State Conservatory in Izmir, alongside extensive cultural immersion. He holds an MA in Music with Distinction from Edinburgh Napier University.
His work combines Mediterranean modal language, contemporary composition, atmospheric sound worlds, and improvisation, forming immersive musical narratives shaped by rhythm, melodic development, and emotional intensity.
Rather than operating within fixed genre categories, his music develops a cinematic and theatrical language centred on memory, unfolding from solo oud material into full ensemble textures, and moving through shifting emotional colours, changing scenes, and evolving sound worlds.
His upcoming album Sketches of Memory, supported by Creative Scotland and scheduled for release in autumn 2026, presents original compositions for oud-led ensemble.
The ensemble features Marco Sollazzo (composition, oud, bass), Dilek Özcan (Turkey) on voice, Kevin Barrett (Canada) on electric guitar, and Davide Rinaldi (Italy) on drums.
Together, the group explores modal material and composed structures through a balance of written form and improvisation, with the oud as the central compositional voice. The work is designed for curated listening contexts, festivals, and contemporary performance spaces.
Artist Statement
Memory is not nostalgia. It is a living force that helps the soul withstand the chaos of the present.
The Philosophy: I do not inhabit a style; I build a language.
The Source: My work grows from the tension between memory and the present, structure and freedom, silence and groove.
The Journey: Born in Naples, trained in Parma, and shaped by a decade in Türkiye immersing in the oud and modal systems.
The Approach: Tradition is not a museum; it is living material. I approach it as a composer, not a disciple.
The Project: Sketches of Memory (Autumn 2026)
The Sound: Emotion resurfacing through melody, breath, and space. Improvisation as revelation; form as meaning.
The Goal: This work seeks coherence, presence, and truth—beyond the limits of genre.