DIMITRI SCARLATO
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"An internationally renowned artist on the cusp of greatness, Dimitri is the most innovative and versatile of composers. He has a singular voice as a writer that is utterly rare and thrilling to hear. Few music makers can legitimately glide from pure classical genres on to jazz and experimental music, to rock and pop - and effortlessly back again. As a film, classical and theatre composer, he is the holy grail." - Keith Merrill
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Born in my beloved Rome, I started studying piano and violin at the age of 5, but I have always been interested in creating and composing. At 18, I enrolled at the Conservatorio di Musica S.Cecilia in Rome, where I got my degrees in Composition, Conducting and Score Reading (to be an opera repetiteur), while simultaneously studying privately in Jazz Piano and Classical Piano. To ward off the danger of spare time, I enrolled at the Università La Sapienza in Rome to gain a BA in Philosophy, with a final dissertation on correlations between works of the philosopher Wittgentstein and of the composer Anton von Webern.
I was lucky enough to start a professional journey in theatre while I was a student, first as pianist then as musical director and composer. The greatest experience was composing the music for the musical Piaf…l’hymne à l’amour, directed by Carlo Lizzani and performed in prestigious Italian theatres, among them Teatro Regio in Parma and Teatro Argentina in Rome.
In 2004, I moved to London to attend a Masters in Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. At the same time, I began collaborating with upcoming directors from the London Film School and since then I composed the music for several projects, including The City in the Sky by G.Cimini, which, in 2009, was selected for the 66th Venice Film Festival. My highlights in film surely include working in the music pre-production of Sweeney Todd by Tim Burton, being selected at the Berlinale Talent Campus 2011 as film composer, and being the conducting coach of sir Michael Caine in Youth - a film by the Oscar winning director Paolo Sorrentino (2015). In London, I rediscovered my passion for contemporary classical music and obtained a Doctorate in Composition at the Royal College of Music (which in 2010 selected me as a RCM Rising Star). My music has been performed in various venues, among them the Barbican Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, Teatro Olimpico in Rome and Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
In 2011, I was selected to join the VOX 3 – Composing for Voice workshop at the Royal Opera House in London and in 2015, I won the 3rd Composition Competition at the International Spring Orchestra Festival. My two operas, Fadwa and La tregua di Natale, have been fully produced and staged by Accademia Filarmonica Romana and Nuova Consonanza, two of the most important music institutions in Rome.
A wide passion for music did not stop me from collaborating in various projects as songwriter, producer and arranger, working for singers and bands such as Queens of the Stone Age.
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I released two albums with my own music, Voci and Colours, the latter available on all the streaming platforms! I also love instilling my passion to young generations of composer through my work as Area Leader in Composition for Screen the Royal College of Music.