Internationally acclaimed as a virtuoso of the basset horn and as one of the best contemporary music soloists of his generation, he is also active as a painter and as a composer.
In october 2014 he has been awarded the Rubinstein Prize "una vita nella musica" at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice together with the composer Salvatore Sciarrino, for his career before 40 years old.
In 2016 he signs a contract with Universal Music and records his debut album "Michele Marelli - Contemporary Clarinet" with the renowned Decca Classics, gaining an incredible succes among the critics: Nomination at the ICMA 2017 (International Classical Music Awards), 5 stars Amadeus, 5 stars Musica.
In 2018 he released his second concept-album with Decca Classics "Michele Marelli - Clarinet Reloaded", accompanied by the Orcehstra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and by the San Diego New Music Ensemble.
As an 18-year-old he met Karlheinz Stockhausen, establishing a profound artistic relationship that lasted for more than a decade during which, chosen by the Maestro himself as soloist of his Ensemble, Marelli played World Premières under his instruction and guidance and recorded 3 CDs for the
Stockhausen Complete Edition. Stockhausen himself led Marelli to devote himself to the basset horn. Marelli’s mastery of the instrument led Giorgio Gaslini to define him as one of its "leading performers". "Very gifted" according to Stockhausen, "an absolute genius" according to Suzanne Stephens, he performs as a soloist in some of the most prestigious concert halls and radio programs in the world.A six-time winner of the Prize of the
Stockhausen Stiftung für Musik, other prestigious international prizes he has been awarded include the First Prize at the International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Krakow (2004), the Valentino Bucchi clarinet Competition in Rome (2007), the Honorary Logos Award in Belgium (2000), the Jeunesse Musicale auditions (2001), the DESONO association scholarship (from 2001 to 2005) and in 2006 the "Master dei Talenti Musicali" award from the Fondazione CRT, the Prometheus Award for the excellence in culture from the Confindustria Italiana, the International Composition Competition of the Bienale Koper 2012.He has worked with some of the leading composers of our times, giving world premieres of their compositions mostly dedicated to him, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Kurtàg, Marco Stroppa, Helmut Lachenmann, Franco Donatoni, Kaija Saariaho, Rebecca Saunders, Luca Francesconi, Stefano Gervasoni, Fabio Nieder, Sylvano Bussotti, Alberto Colla and many others.
His Cds featuring the clarinet and basset horn works by Stockhausen published by Stradivarius and Wergo, immediately become reference recordings and are awarded many prizes by international press and critics such as the ICMA 2014 Nomination (International classical music awards) as best contemporary music cd of 2013, 5 Diapason in France, 5 stelle di Musica, 5 di Amadeus and others.
He
performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestre
Philharmonique de Radio France, the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale
Fiorentino, Hilversum
Philharmonic Orchestra (Olanda), the TMC Orchestra (Tanglewood, Usa),
the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, the Orchestra di Padova
e del Veneto, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Orchestra della
Toscana, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Archi della Desono, the University of Georgia Chamber
Orchestra (Usa), conducted between others by Peter Eötvös, Susanna Mä
He performed as soloist in renowned Festivals and concert halls such as: Teatro La Fenice di Venezia (Solo recital at the main Hall), Biennale di Venezia, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival (USA), Opera di Firenze, Donaueschingen Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Mozarteum Salzburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Wiener Festwochen, März Musik, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Milano Musica, MITO Settembre Musica, Festival d'Automne and Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Salzburger Festspiele, Musiktriennale Köln, Philharmonie de Luxembourg, Rachmaninov Hall in Moscow, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Festival Sinopoli di Taormina, Le Fresnoy de Lille, Krakòw Philharmonic Hall, Museo Enescu in Bucarest, Teatro Manzoni in Bologna, Angelica Festival, Teatro Carignano and Piccolo Regio in Torino, Unione Musicale di Torino, Gog (Giovine Orchestra Genovese), Teatro Valli Reggio Emilia, Festival Aterforum in Ferrara, Orpheus Instituut in Gent, Philharmonie of Ljubljana and many others.
The Stockhausen Foundation entrusted him to perform the World Première of Stockhausen's UVERSA, 16. Stunde aus KLANG, for basset horn and electronic music during the MusikTriennale in Cologne, the last basset horn piece composed by the composer before his passing. His performance was later published by the Stockhausen Complete Edition.
At the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2010 and 2018 he premiered "let me sing into your ear" and "Air on air", basset horn and orchestra concertos dedicated to him by Marco Stroppa and Ivan Fedele, with the Hilversum Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös and with the SWR Symphonieorchester conducted by Pascal Rophé.
He performed with the Swiss director Christoph Marthaler in his latest production for the Wiener Festwochen 2013 and the Festival d’Automne in Paris "Letzte Tage: ein Vorabend".
He collaborates with Ensemble musikFabrik and Klangforum Wien.
Since the age of 10 he has played on Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces and is currently an endorser for the French brand.
He is a Henri Selmer Paris and Buffet-Crampon Paris official artist.
He has taught clarinet, chamber music, semiology and history of electroacustic music at the Conservatories of Messina, Reggio Calabria, Teramo, Foggia, Ribera, Sassari, Adria and Alessandria.
He is Professor of Clarinet and Bass Clarinet at the Conservatorio "Niccolò Paganini" in Genova.
He is artistic director of the Biennial for Contemporary Music in Koper (Slovenia).
“Based
on my professional and personal contact with Michele Marelli since 1997,
I feel that he possesses not only great talent as a clarinettist but
that musically speaking in general he is very gifted”.
“I have taught
many players from around the world. Michele is unquestionably the most
talented and natural besides being a very likeable and sensitive
person”.