Full Biography

Born in Maddaloni (CE) but raised in Telese Terme (BN), after having obtained the High School Diploma in Scientific Studies, the Master High School Diploma, the Specialization Diploma for Teaching special needs children, Eligibility for the Master’s Competition and classical music studies at the Conservatory of Benevento, he moved to Rome, where he graduated with honors in Jazz Music at the S. Cecilia Conservatory.

He follows various internships, such as the Berklee Summer School at Umbria Jazz, the Seminars and the two-year high-level specialization course for Trio at Siena Jazz Institution.He studies with internationally renowned musicians such as Dave Liebman (Chromatic Masterclass at East Stroudsbourg University – USA, Pennsylvania), J. Taylor, F. D’Andrea, S. Battaglia, D. Sanborn, G. Goldstein and participates in numerous festivals including the Franco-Italian Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music in Rome with the Jazz Orchestra of S. Cecilia Conservatory; the 2005 Jazz Festival of Roccella Jonica where he opened the concert at the Wayne Shorter Quartet, the Rome Music Festival and the Bitonto Jazz Festival where he opened the concert, respectively, to the Peter Erskine trio and to the Mike Stern Band in 2007, the Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Grahamstown 2016 (South Africa), the Sydney Con International Jazz Festival 2019 (Australia).

He was semifinalist at the TIM (International Music Tournament) held in Marseille (France) and the only Italian pianist at the Time Montreux Jazz Piano Solo Competition 2005 (Switzerland).

He has collaborated in Italy with Paolo Damiani, Massimo Moriconi, Roberto Gatto, Ettore Fioravanti, Francesco Puglisi, Cristiano Micalizzi, Pietro Ciancaglini, Aldo Bassi, S. Cecilia Jazz Quartet, Diana Torto, Walter Paoli; in the United States he played with Dave Liebman, Mike Stephans, Tony Marino, Tony Moreno, Marc Mommaas; in Canada, in trio with Alec Walkington e Dave Laing (McGill University of Music di Montréal) e with George Koller and Davide Di Renzo (Toronto), in ensemble with Dominic Mancuso, Paco Luviano, Chendy Leon, Tony Zorzi, John Johnson, Jerry Caringi, Drew Jurecka, Rebekah Wolkstein, Lydia Munchinsky, Claudio Vena, Kevin Turcotte, Michael Davidson; in Germany with David Milzow, Sebastian Hoffmann, John Berta, Christoph Wirtz, Tarek Husseini, Nene´ Vasquez; in Armenia with Daniel Melkonyan andMikhail Fominyh; in Sud Africa with Mark Ginsburg, Romy Brauteseth, Kevin Gibson, Judy Campbell, Justin Binek, Mike Campbell, Micu Narunsky, Maurice Gawronsky, Ian Smith, Sphelelo Mazibuko, Andreas Tschopp, Justin Bellairs; in Australia con Mark Ginsburg, Karl Dunnicliff, Tim Firth, il Bel a cappella Choir, Anthony Pasquill.

He played at the legendary Deer Head Inn – Pennsylvania, USA, at the Upstairs Jazz Club in Montréal (Canada); at the Lula Lounge Jazz Club and the Jazz Bistrot in Toronto (Canada), the Kaleidoscope Jazz Lounge, the Winchester Mansions and the Jazz Theater at the Nassau in Cape Town (South Africa); in Japan at the Temple of Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and for the Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka; at Birdland in Hamburg (Germany); in Rome at the S. Cecilia Conservatory, at Casa del Jazz, at S. Agnese in Agone basilic, at Villa Giulia, at Theater of Contrari, at Villa Pamphilj, Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, Palazzo Farnese, Flaiano Theater, Palazzo Wegil; at the Vespasiano Theater of Civitavecchia, the Roman Amphitheater of Benevento, the Municipal Theater of Ceglie Messapica, the Vespasiano Theater of Rieti, the Royal Palace of S. Leucio in Caserta, the Auditorium of the Conservatory of L’Aquila, Reggio Calabria and Frosinone, at the National Archaeological Museum and at the Cilea Theater in Reggio Calabria, at the University of Cosenza, at the ‘Come Back’ Festival in Giubiasco (Switzerland) with the musical group I Giganti, also participating in various television programs on Rai and Mediaset.

In 2006 he recorded the cd MP2 live Mezza Pagni Jazz Duo – Splasc (H) Records and in 2007 the cd Solinsieme – Domani Musica Ed. Mus., obtaining reviews from some of the best Italian critics, such as Franco Fayenz, Vittorio Lo Conte, Neri Pollastri, Giordano Selini, Diego D’Angelo, Gerlando Gatto, Andrea Romeo, Gianni Montano, Michael Alberga and from newspapers and magazines such as Musica Jazz, Jazzit, Corriere della Sera, l’Unità, Milano Finanza, Gioia, Il Mattino, Il Messaggero and Il Tempo in Italy, as well as international ones in Japan, USA, Switzerland, France and Canada.

For the Top Jazz 2006 referendum organized by Musica Jazz magazine he got into the category of the best new Italian talents. He was awarded at the International Composition Competition “O. Sindici ”2006, obtaining the publication of a collection of original compositions for piano solo: Pianogrups Vol. 1. Subsequently he was a finalist in the International Competition for music applied to videos: Rome Soundtrack Competition 2007.

He also participated as pianist to the recording of the jazz project My World, published by RAITRADE Editions in 2007. Since 2007 he has entered most of the rankings of the Italian State Conservatories and begins teaching at one of the most important State Music Conservatory in Italy: ”S. Cecilia” in Rome.

He has published Pianogrups Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (BERBEN Editions), Birth from a bird – for piano and Memories of Love (Florestano Editions).

His treatise New Improvisational Paths – Advanced Pentatonic Techniques has been published by the University Library of Padua.

In 2016 the book FRAGMENTS – Ten jazz compositions for piano solo has been published by UTORPHEUS Editor in Bologna for the Contemporary Music Series.

He was interviewed on several radio programs: at ICN Radio in Westwood, New Jersey (USA), which dedicated a program to his music and Canadian Italian Radio in Montreal, also giving an interview to the popular US newspaper L’America Oggi (2009); participated in the Italian Notturno program of Rai Radio International interviewed by A. Pierotti (2011).

In 2010 his album ”Vittorio Mezza Trio” (Abeat Records) has been presented at Feltrinelli Libri e Musica in Rome and in various radio broadcasts such as ‘Battiti’ at Rai Radio Tre, Radio Montecarlo, Radio 105, LifeGate Radio, Radio 24.

His music is currently broadcasted in France by Radio Jazz 34, in Canada by JAZZFM91, in Germany by the Berlin Jazz Radio, Radio ARA Luxembourg, in the USA, Korea, Romania, Albania, Chile, Croatia, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Colombia, Greece, Iceland, Canada, Peru, Slovenia, South Africa, Israel, Serbia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, England, Ecuador, Honduras, Belarus, Indonesia, Guatemala, Brazil, Slovakia, Qatar, Bangladesh, Panama, Thailand, Norway, Armenia, Holland, Nigeria, Bahamas, Ukraine, Malaysia, Sudan, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Spain, Bolivia, New Mexico, Republic of Macedonia, Argentina, Costa Rica, Suriname, Singapore, Hawaii, Venezuela, Sweden, Emirates Arabs, Netherlands Antilles, Georgia, Ivory Coast, Hong Kong, Russia, Japan, India, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia (where some pieces of the Vittorio Mezza Trio cd have been arranged for choir and orchestra).

The Vittorio Mezza Trio album has been also selected among the best jazz albums by ALITALIA airline and selected for the special ranking drawn up by Jazzit Magazine as record of the year 2010 both in the “100 Greatest Jazz Album 2010” and in the “Writing & Ensemble”. So that Vittorio is considered among the best Italian musicians and composers for the Referendum of Jazzit Award Prize 2010.

As Music Supervisor he collaborated with the Italian Rai Radio Television from 2005 to 2014 and participated to the realization of the modern opera of ‘’I Promessi Sposi’’ by A. Manzoni at the ‘G. Meazza’ S. Siro Stadium in Milano. The opera was directed by M. Guardì, the orchestration by R. Serio, broadcasted in prime time on Rai Uno channel, with repeats at the Teatro della Valle dei Templi in Agrigento and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan.

Among the most important projects for solo piano he recorded the cd Life Process, published by Abeat Records in 2012. It collected hundreds of reviews and interviews, such as the exclusive one on the well-known Italian bimonthly of jazz music Jazzit (July-August issue 2012). The CD was presented on October 29th 2012 at the program “Battiti” Rai Radio Tre, conducted by the jazz critic and journalist Pino Saulo.

With the invitation of the Embassy of Italy in Yaoundè – Cameroun, the album Life Process was also presented at the French Cultural Institute of Douala (Cameroun) as part of the 15th Edition of the Ya-Jazz International Festival on November 8th 2012.

On May 12th 2013 he held a concert for solo piano, playing the songs from the Life Process album as part of ‘’Percorsi Jazz’’ Festival at the Auditorium of the S. Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, flanking the pianist Danilo Rea on the piano. On December 3rd 2013 he played at the S. Cecilia Conservatory in Rome in quartet with Paolo Damiani as part of the VII Edition of the ‘Via Vittoria Award’ (organized in collaboration with the Conservatory itself and the S. Cecilia Academy). On this occasion the quartet pays homage to Maestro Sir Antonio Pappano who got a Special Prize delivered by Dr. Gianni Letta.

On July 19th 2014 Vittorio received the ‘’Anselmo Mattei National Prize XI Edition’’ in San Salvatore Telesino (BN), as an established musician in the artistic field and on that occasion he held a solo piano concert.

On September 23 and 24th 2014, as Coordinator of the Jazz Music Department at the ‘’Francesco Cilea’’ Conservatory in Reggio Calabria, he held, together with the German saxophonist David Milzow, the masterclass Contemporary approach to Jazz Music. On that occasion they officially presented the new cd MMP – Mezza Milzow Project, published by Abeat Records and recorded with David Milzow on saxophones and Ettore Fioravanti on drums. The cd contains the encouraging review by Dave Liebman, internationally renowned musician alongside Miles Davis in the early 70’s. The cd was also presented at Rai Radio Tre on October 21st 2014 and in the main cities of Germany starting from January 2015 on.

On November 18th 2014 Vittorio was interviewed by Radio JAZZFM91 of Toronto for the Napoli Jazz Songs project recorded with his Canadian trio formed by George Koller on double bass and Davide Di Renzo on drums. The project, recorded in Toronto, was released on October 7th 2016 by the Abeat Records label and presented at the Feltrinelli Librerie in Naples and at Piano City Festival in Milan, the important Italian kermesse completely dedicated to solo piano concerts where he performed in the 2015 Edition and replicating in 2016 and 2017.

In 2015 he played at the All Saints Church in Rome together with saxophonist Mark Ginsburg and the polyphonic choir Bel a Cappella from Sydney (Australia).

From this encounter another international project of Vittorio was born: Convergence – Mezza Ginsburg Ensemble, published by one of the major German labels, Ozella MUSIC, recorded in quartet together with Australian saxophonist and composer Mark Ginsburg and an Italian rhythm section. Convergence has been taken on a tour twice (2016 and 2018) to major cities in South Africa and has participated in the largest festival in the country: the well renowned Standard Bank International Jazz Festival in Grahamstown 2016.

In November 2016 Vittorio recorded in Germany, at the Wohlklangforschung Studios in Hannover, a new album in quartet with saxophonist David Milzow: BRINGING IT BACK, thus the MMEQ – MEZZA MILZOW EUROPEAN QUARTET was born. The record was released in 2018 by the prestigious Swiss label Unit Records.

In November 2017 Vittorio was on tour in Germany with the MMEQ project touching the main German cities, playing at the famous ”Birdland” in Hamburg; subsequently, in Italy, they played in 2018 at ‘’Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival’’ and in 2020 – between the two lockdowns – at the Auditorium of the ‘’Licinio Refice’’ State Conservatory of Music in Frosinone.

On May 2nd 2017 Vittorio was invited to represent Italy as a renowned jazz pianist by Canada’s most important radio the JAZZFM91 performing in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Consulate General of Italy for the ‘’JAZZFM91’s 2017 Sounds of Italy Concert Series’’ in Toronto (Canada). Among the dates of the tour, which was met with great enthusiasm by the Italian-Canadian public, the Vittorio Mezza Canadian Trio (with George Koller on double bass and Ben Riley on drums) performed at the famous Jazz Bistro in Toronto, at the Artwood Theater in Hamilton and at Manhattan of Guelph, Ontario (Canada).

On October 23rd 2017 on the occasion of the World Day called by the UN for ‘’The end of impunity for crimes against journalists’’, the hymn ‘’Libertà va cercando’’, composed by Vittorio Mezza has been broadcasted at Palazzo Madama in Rome, where the President of the Senate of the Italian Republic Pietro Grasso was present. The title of the composition was chosen by the journalist Alberto Spampinato, Director of the ‘’Ossigeno per l’Informazione’’ Association, who took it from the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

In 2017 Vittorio received the nomination as composer and performer at the Just Plain Folks Music Awards in Los Angeles for the following compositions: AFA, from the cd Vittorio Mezza TRIO (Abeat Records) and YOUNIQUE, from the cd MMP (Abeat Records). He was interviewed by JAZZIT Magazine (March-April 2017 n.98) for the trio project Napoli Jazz Songs which, right away, is broadcasted by the most important Italian and foreign radio stations (from ‘Battiti’ Rai Radio Tre to Radio Luxembourg , Radio Swiss Jazz, Radio Berlin, Jazz Radio 106.8, Rete Due Svizzera Italiana, just to name a few), as well as positively reviewed by the major Italian newspapers and magazines (La Repubblica, Musica Jazz, Il Mattino, Tgcom 24, Audiophile, Cadence Jazz Magazine , LA GAZETTE BLEUE D’ACTION JAZZ etc. etc.).

With the well-known Italian actor and director Vittorio Viviani and the saxophonist Gianluca Lusi he then started in 2018 a new collaboration for the realization of the theatrical show ‘’Juliet & Romeo in Jazz’’, arranging in jazz style pieces of classical music, rock, pop and soundtracks, along with ad hoc written originals. The first of the show was held at the famous Flaiano Theater in Rome in 2018, then the show was staged at the ‘’Anagni 2019 Medieval and Renaissance Theater Festival’’, at the Garibaldi Theater in Avola (SR) in 2020 and it was also broadcast on RAI RADIO TRE.

In his academic career he held the Jazz Piano Course at the ‘’S. Cecilia’’ Conservatory in Rome (AY 2008-2010), the Chair of Jazz Piano at the ‘’Francesco Cilea’’ Conservatory of Reggio Calabria (AY 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14), he worked as a jazz piano collaborator at the ‘’F. Morlacchi’’ Conservatory of Perugia (AY 2013-14). He also held the Electronic Keyboards Course at the ‘’Giovan Battista Martini’’ Conservatory of Bologna (AY 2013-14 and 2014-15), the Jazz Piano Course at the ‘’Lucio Campiani’’ Conservatory of Mantua (AY 2015-16), the Jazz Piano Chair at the ‘’F.E. Dall’Abaco’’ Conservatory of Verona (A.Y. 2014-15) and the ‘’Alfredo Casella’’ Conservatory of L’Aquila (A.Y. 2015-16). Then settling at the ‘’Licinio Refice’’ Conservatory in Frosinone, where he became full time Professor of Jazz Piano at the New Technologies and Musical Languages, Jazz Music Department.

In 2019 the project Convergence – Mezza Ginsburg Ensemble also lands at the Sydney Con International Jazz Festival with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute of Sydney and is on tour in Australia in Newcastle, Albury-Wodonga, Blue Mountains and Bathurst, gaining great enthusiasm among fans and professionals.

For their first Australian tour, the Mezza Ginsburg Ensemble has been formed by Tim Firth (drums), Karl Dunnicliff (bass) and the Bel a cappella Choir, a Sydney choir conducted by the director M°Anthony Pasquill.

The project has been supported, in the album liner notes, by two great international artists, such as Dave Liebman (famous saxophonist and teacher) and Bruce Cassidy (Blood, Sweat & Tears).

CONVERGENCE – MEZZA GINSBURG ENSEMBLE was selected as ”Best CD of the Year” in the “Best CDs of 2018” Jazz Awards category of the Indie Acoustic Project USA.

In 2019 Vittorio was on tour in Japan with saxophonist Gianluca Lusi: the duo was invited to represent Italy by the Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka and at the UNESCO Temple of Nara.

Since 2018 Vittorio has started a new project together with the Canadian composer, singer, guitarist and producer Dominic Mancuso, arranging and recording the album ‘’Dances In My Mind’’ in Toronto (Canada) and performing with the support of the Italian Institute of Culture in Toronto. The cd has been distributed digitally since 2021.

His latest project entitled ‘’SKETCHES OF CINEMA’’ concerns the arrangement, re-composition and interpretation in a contemporary and jazzy key of some of the most famous soundtracks of the XX Century Italian cinema on piano solo.

SKETCHES OF CINEMA debuted in concert last September at the Auditorium of the Frosinone State Conservatory of Music and is now ready for the international tour in 2022.

In November 2021 he recorded in Germany the new album with the MMEQ – Mezza Milzow European Quintet with David Milzow – saxophones, Sebastian Hoffmann – electric bass, Nene´ Vasquez – percussion, Christoph Wirtz – drums. In December 2021 he was invited to represent Italy at the Italian Cultural Institutes of Zagreb and Budapest with the ”Juliet & Romeo in Jazz” project, of which he oversaw the music and arrangements; the show sees the collaboration with the well-known Italian actor Vittorio Viviani.

In June and July 2022 he played at the TD Toronto International Jazz Festival and at the Italian Contemporary Film Festival – ICFF – in Toronto (Canada), presenting the project `’Dances in my mind” together with the Canadian guitarist, producer, singer Dominic Mancuso, with the support of the Italian Cultural Institute of Toronto.

In December 2022 he was invited by the Italian Embassy in Jerevan, Armenia, to perform some concerts: he arranged for piano, trumpet and double bass, songs from the Neapolitan repertoire and soundtracks from Italian cinema. The concerts took place with great success and were sold out.