Solis String Quartet

The Solis String Quartet,born in 1991, from the encounter of four young graduated absolute talents of the Conservatory of San Pietro a Maiella of Naples.
Composers and arrangers, Vincenzo Di Donna – violin, Luigi De Maio – violin, Gerardo Morrone – Viola, Antonio Di Francia – Cello, joined to give life to one of the most meaningful artistic experiences ever produced in the city of Naples.
From 1991 until today, the ensemble has covered an artistic path of high importance, becoming undoubtedly one of the best Quartets of Europe in their genre.
From the first experiences with the artist Adriano Celentano, then with Claudio Baglioni, Gianna Nannini, Edoardo Bennato, Elisa, Giorgia and the Negramaro band, just to name few of Italian nationally renown artists, the Solis String Quartet has developed a unique and personal artistic style ranging from pop to jazz, from world music to the best contemporary music that soon projected them in a wider context for collaborations with talents and artists of international high profile.
Among these experiences, it is worth to mention the live shows with Andreas Vollenweider, and then the work for the Andreas album Cosmopoly, with artists such as Carly Simon and Bobby Mc Ferrin, and the collaboration on the single of the new album of Jimmy Cliff , titled “People”, sung with Sting and written by Dave Stewart, launched on the English market. Then, Dulce Pontes, Pat Metheny, Noa, Richard Galliano, Teresa Salgueiro, Donovan, Sinead O’Connor, Maria Joao, Omar Sosa as key musical encounters, that become a real feature of the Solis artistic journey characterised by high versatility and understanding of the many different artistic languages.
“I Can See For Miles ….and Miles…”
One of the essential aspects in the history of the Solis is undoubtedly the live performance activity. In almost twenty years of career the Solis Quartet has covered thousand and thousand of miles. On tour by themselves, and in the many collaborations, the Solis String Quartet is one of the Italian groups regularly invited to exhibit in the main theatres and festivals in Europe. However, the encounter with the artist Noa, remains a highly meaningful moment. With the Israeli artist they exhibited in the 2005 in France, Spain, Germany.
In November 2005 they are the only Italian artists invited to play in Israel at the Memorial Rabin of Tel Aviv, in a concert at the presence of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
In March 2006, in Israel in Tel Aviv city, they realize LIVE! , double album with DVD, the top of an extraordinary artistic companionship with Noa.
Among many live events of their calendar, it is worth to remember the participation to the Pavarotti & Friends , with Edoardo Bennato in 1996, with Elton John, Liza Minnelli and Sheryl Crow among all else and the prestigious participation in 1997 to the celebration of the 700 years anniversary of the takeover of the Ranieri family, in the Theater of Court of the Principato of Monaco, where they hold a concert with Katia Ricciarelli and Massimo Ranieri.
The presence in media is also very rich, both on national radio and tv stations.
Among these, the participation to the Festival di Sanremo, together with Elisa in 2001 and in 2006 with Noa and C. Fava.
In 2001 their first album Metrò is released by the label Confini e Oltre, distributed by BMG Ricordi.The album is received well by critics and public, appreciative of their artistic proposal.” PROMENADE”, is the title of their second album.
Published at the end of 2006, the album is distributed in Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Lussemburgo, Switzerland and Holland as evidence of an European interest and reception.
Promenade is a mature job, and is conceived as a sort of a travel book collecting the best artistic collaborations and experiences of the previous years that led the Solis Quartet to establish themselves among the main European reference music ensembles.
The songs are characterized by the constant search of the melody – fundamental element of their compositions- by a strong rhythm, absolute characteristic of Solis String Quartet and represent the best of the cultural and musical influences of the countries that the group has visited and of the musicians who have shared experiences with the group.
Friends of the band appear also on the cd, such as Gianna Nannini, Richard Galliano and the long-time artistic companion Noa.
“Promenade Acoustic Live Tour” , it started on April 20, 2007 , from La Palma Club of Rome.
The Solis Quartet project has then been taken on tour in the main European festivals: Montreaux Jazz Festival, the Blue Balls Festival of Lucerna, Adriatic International Festival of Brindisi , Cefalù Jazz Festival, Settimana Mozartiana Festival of Chieti, Paemad Festival of Palermo, Maison Musique di Rivoli and Folk Club of Turin.
Currently, Promenade is the main project in their live activity. Recently the group has taken part to the realization of the last album of the Negramaro band, recorded in S. Francisco with the title “La Finestra”, and has performed live with the band in May (2008) in Milan at San Siro stadium in front of 50000 fans.
Last but not least… the band has paid their deeply felt homage to the Neapolitan classic song tradition in a concert event, held on last 30 june (2008) at San Carlo Theater, with the Portuguese artist Teresa Salgueiro.
Solis String Quartet is a project/work in progress that plays a lot, sleeps little, drinks much coffee, surfs Internet, exchanges opinions, and works on new projects. We will keep you updated….

For More Details please visit their website

www.solis.it