Alex Cesare Elia - Trumpet
Encouraged by his father, an amateur musician, Alex Elia grew up discovering music in the Aosta Valley, playing in his hometown wind band. At the age of 17 he began performing professionally with local orchestras and ensembles, before graduating with honours — under the guidance of Davide Sanson — with both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in trumpet from the Conservatoire de la Vallée d'Aoste.
A full scholarship holder, he attended the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at the University of Tel Aviv, where he was also a prize-winner in the annual year-end solo competition.
From 2012 to 2014 he was a member of the Teatro alla Scala Academy Orchestra, taking part in opera and ballet productions during the La Scala season in Milan, as well as symphonic programmes in Italy and abroad alongside world-renowned conductors and soloists. In the summer of 2014 he was invited to join the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, one of the world's foremost youth orchestras.
He has since collaborated as guest principal trumpet with leading Italian institutions including the Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Teatro Massimo di Palermo, the Teatro Regio di Torino, the Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano, the Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, the Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, the Orchestra Verdi di Milano, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, and the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic of Parma, among others.
From January to July 2015 he served as Principal Trumpet of the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra in Guadalajara, Mexico.
For several years he held the same role with the Orchestra Antonio Vivaldi under his long-time friend and collaborator, conductor Lorenzo Passerini. Deeply committed to the project, he appeared as soloist on numerous occasions — performing works by Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No. 2), Stamitz, Vivaldi, Ratti, and Battistoni — and contributed to the orchestra's artistic development. He is featured on the ensemble's debut recording LP, performing Post Scriptum by composer-in-residence Piergiorgio Ratti.
Together with Lorenzo Passerini (trombone) and Marco Cadario (organ), he is a founding member of the Trio all'Opera, a project dedicated to instrumental performances of operatic repertoire on the Italian 19th-century "operatic" organ.
As dedicatee, he gave the world premiere of Personal by Davide Sanson for trumpet and wind band, and in close collaboration with the composer also premiered Sanson's arrangement of Debussy's Suite Bergamasque for trumpet and chamber orchestra.
In 2017 he was trumpet soloist in Carme for choir and ensemble by Academy Award-winning composer Nicola Piovani, performed with the choir and musicians of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Cavea del Parco della Musica in Rome.
A prize-winner in several national solo competitions, he has distinguished himself in the prestigious Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments (2013) and the 25th International Competition Città di Porcia (2014).
He is currently Principal Trumpet of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
