internationally acclaimed virtuoso of the basset horn, holds a major in clarinet with summa cum laude from the Conservatorio di Musica A. Vivaldi in Alessandria where he studied under the guidance of Giacomo Soave. He has also a degree in modern literature from the University of Turin for his thesis on Stockhausen. He furthered his musical studies in England with Alan Hacker, in Germany with Suzanne Stephens and in France with Alain Damiens, and studied composition and electronic music in Turin and Milan.
As an 18-year-old he met Karlheinz Stockhausen, establishing a profound artistic relationship that lasted for more than a decade during which, chosen by the composer himself as soloist of his ensemble, Marelli played world premières under his instruction and guidance and recorded 3 CDs for the Stockhausen Complete Edition. It was Stockhausen who led Marelli to devote himself to the basset horn.
In October 2014 Marelli was awarded the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein Prize “Una vita nella musica giovani” together with the composer Salvatore Sciarrino.
A six-time winner of the Prize of the Stockhausen Stiftung für Musik, other prestigious international prizes he has been awarded include the first prizes at the International Contemporary Chamber Music Competition in Cracow (2004) and the Valentino Bucchi Clarinet Competition in Rome (2007), the Honorary Logos Award in Belgium (2000), DESONO association scholarship (from 2001 to 2005), the “Master dei Talenti Musicali” award from the Fondazione CRT (2006) and the Prometheus Award for the excellence in culture from the Confindustria Italiana 2.
He is professor of clarinet at the Conservatorio Francesco Cilea in Reggio Calabria.
He has worked with leading composers of our times: Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Kurtàg, Marco Stroppa, Ivan Fedele, Franco Donatoni, Kaija Saariaho, Rebecca Saunders, Fabio Nieder, Sylvano Bussotti, Alberto Colla, Matteo Franceschini, Oscar Bianchi and many others, giving world premieres of their compositions, mostly dedicated to him. His CDs featuring the clarinet and basset horn works by Stockhausen published by Stradivarius and Wergo, immediately became reference recordings and were awarded many prizes (ICMA 2014 Nomination for the best contemporary music CD of 2013, five Diapasons, five “Stelle di Musica”, five “Amadeus” prizes).
He performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Hilversum Philharmonic, the TMC Orchestra (Tanglewood, USA), Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Archi della Desono, University of Georgia Chamber Orchestra (USA), conducted by Peter Eötvös, Susanna Mälkki, Enno Poppe and Andrea Pestalozza.
He gave recitals and performed as soloist at renowned Festivals such as Biennale di Venezia, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival, Donaueschingen Musiktage, Berliner Festspiele, Wiener Festwochen, März Musik, Milano Musica, MITO Settembre Musica, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Musiktriennale Köln.
At the Donaueschinger Musiktage, with the Hilversum Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös, he gave the world première of the Let me sing into your ear – concerto for amplified basset horn and orchestra by Marco Stroppa, dedicated to him. The performance was later recorded for the label Neos. He collaborates with the Ensemble musikFabrik in Cologne.
He performed with Swiss director Christoph Marthaler in his latest production of Letzte Tage: ein Vorabend for the Wiener Festwochen and the Festival d’Automne in Paris.
Since the age of 10 he has played on Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces and is currently an endorser for the French brand.
