Paolo Paliaga

Paolo Paliaga is a pianist and composer active on the Italian and international music scene with several ensembles. He has recorded around fifteen CDs with Alboran Trio, the Paolo Paliaga Quartet and Horizon Quartet. He studied jazz piano with Sante Palumbo, Arrigo Cappelletti and Enrico Pieranunzi.

He has composed soundtracks performed live for films including Vsevolod Pudovkin’s Mother and Herbert Brenon’s Peter Pan (1924). During several years in France he collaborated with French musicians and recorded with the group Faena. His festival appearances include the London and Brecon jazz festivals, Roma Jazz Festival, the Bergamo and Padua jazz festivals, and the San Javier and Madrid jazz festivals.

With Alboran Trio he was selected among the eight finalists for the BMW Welt Jazz Award in Munich, and performed in Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania, Norway and Austria. The group recorded for the German label ACT. In 2008, critic Franco Fayenz described the trio as “the musical event of the year”. His collaborations include Enrico Rava, Barbara Casini, Gianni Basso and Ares Tavolazzi.

His work also encompasses solo piano concerts and appearances on RAI Radio 3’s Invenzioni a due voci, devised and presented by Pino Saulo. His musical exploration continues through Alboran Trio, solo piano and his piano duo with classical pianist Roberto Plano.

He holds a degree in Political Science from Milan and a doctorate in Sociology. His work brings together jazz, European musical traditions and African rhythmic influences. In 2020, Islands received the Gold Prize for Best Jazz Record from the Japanese magazine Jazz Hihyo. In 2022, with graphic artist Jesús de la Iglesia, he created Anthropocene, a performance combining live music with an animation of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights.