Roberto Scarpa Meylougan

Pianist, composer and harpsichordist Roberto Scarpa Meylougan graduated with top marks in organ, composition and early liturgical chant from the “Benedetto Marcello” Conservatory in Venice. He studied with Sergio de Pieri and W. van de Pol, and continued his studies in France with Jean Guillou, Michel Chapuis, Jean-Patrice Brosse and Gaston Litaize. His virtuoso pedalboard technique was particularly appreciated by Olivier Messiaen and Karl Richter.

He has maintained an active concert career throughout Europe since 1978, collaborating with major international orchestras and artists including Claudio Abbado, Daniela Dessì, Vjekoslav Šutej and Sir Roger Norrington. Alongside the classical repertoire, he arranges and composes pop and folk music, working with Francesco Renga, Andrea Braido, Marco Ponchiroli and Antonio Maiello, among others.

Following specialised training, he began working as a sound engineer, microphone technician, recording director and audio editor. He has worked as a sound and recording engineer on more than 150 albums distributed worldwide by labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Universal, Philips and Decca. In 2006 he recorded Children, a solo album forming part of his project to reassess and rediscover the organ as a source of shared enjoyment and a means of presenting forgotten music, unusual repertoire and new works. In 2009 he was invited to perform at Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Boston, United States. That year he also appeared on the Sanremo stage with Daniela Dessì and Francesco Renga.

He undertook organ-building training with Piccinelli, Formentelli and Fratelli Ruffatti, collaborating with them on the restoration and construction of organs in the Veneto region.

From 2013 he worked on a UNESCO project funded by several Hungarian authorities to sample some of Italy’s most distinguished organs, with the aim of creating a multimedia sound library. He subsequently began touring with a virtual organ to promote the project. On 31 October 2014 he made his concert debut in Schio, Vicenza, on the Double Borgato pedal piano.

His extensive teaching activities include organ, organ composition, audio and video editing, recording techniques and technologies, and electroacoustics.