Overview & Training:
Alessia is a multimedia composer and pianist born and based in London. Her interest in music started from the age of 6 when she began learning the piano. Since then, Alessia has continued to develop a keen interest in composition and music production. Coming from a mainly classical background, Alessia initially went to the University of Cardiff to complete an undergraduate degree in Music (Bachelor of Music). During this time, she took several studio-based modules where she developed a strong interest in Film and TV music/soundtracks and production. After completing her undergraduate degree, Alessia went on to specialise in Composition of Music for Film and Television from Bristol University (Master of Arts). This is where Alessia began working collaboratively with several film/tv directors and producers. Throughout her time in education, Alessia has also continued to progress with her instrumental and theory skills gaining qualifications in both Clarinet (Grade 5) and Music theory (Grade 5). She is now in the process of teaching herself the guitar and cello.
Film and Television work:
Since graduating, Alessia has been working as a freelance media composer working on various multimedia platforms. Her portfolio (to date) includes: games, adverts, documentaries and short film projects. Some of her main projects have included: Documentary shorts 'Red or Dead' and 'Partisans', short film 'Whitstable' and animation 'Let it Rain'. Given the nature of film/tv scoring, Alessia has developed a versatile and broad portfolio/skillset when it comes to her compositional style. No two project briefs are the same which has produced the opportunity to expand her musical capabilities. For example, when composing for the short documentary, 'Partisans', the director asked for a unique soundtrack that incorporated blends of Italian folk and Hip-Hop. This was a particularly rewarding experience, one that pushed her compositional capabilities; and because of this, has become one of her favourite projects that she has worked on to date.
Alessia was shortlisted for the Abbey Road Film Scoring Competition (2020) whereby applicants were asked to score a scene from the biographical animated film 'Benuel and the Labyrinth of the Turtles'. The scene depicted main character 'Benuel' who is filming part of his documentary in an orphanage in Spain. The sound had to remain simple yet connect the audience with the onscreen action and incorporate childlike elements to mirror the scenes location. The instrumentation played a big part in portraying the location of the film, incorporating Spanish guitar for the geographical location and a childlike xylophone and bells to place the audience within the orphanage.
Concert Works:
Concert works form a large part of Alessia's composition portfolio often with her film and television scores crossing over to stand-alone concert pieces. Coming from a classically-trained background, Alessia enjoys writing for a broad variety of concert ensembles and has had her works performed by several groups across England and Wales. Some of these pieces include: 'Tale of the Tooth Fairy' for string quartet performed in workshop by The Carducci Quartet, 'The Early Bird' for cello and piano performed by Lucy Railton and Kit Downes, and 'Powehi' for a group ensemble (Cello, Violin, Clarinet and Piano) performed by members from The Bristol Ensemble.
Last year (2020), Alessia was awarded first place for the London Chinese Children's Ensemble Composition Competition, 'The Orient'. This was a concert piece, entitled 'Spring Parade', written for full orchestra. The brief involved entrants composing a piece for the specified instrumentation to the theme of 'The Orient'. Alessia was inspired to write a piece about attending the 'Spring Parade', a traditional Chinese festival that celebrates the arrival of Spring. Part of the celebration involves releasing illuminated lanterns into the sky which was the main image that Alessia centred her composition around. The debut performance took place via YouTube Live later that year.
Alessia composes mainly programatic music - music that is composed with an image, story or emotion in mind - which is where her concert and film/tv work crosses over.
Influences & Inspiration:
Having grown up with piano music as a central source of musical influence, some of Alessia's main influences for composition come from classical/romantic composers. The impressionist era is particularly influential on how Alessia views the compositional process, music during this time being paired or influenced by an image or scene, with Claude Debussy being one of her favourite composers from this time period. Alessia enjoys playing piano music from both Debussy and romantic composer Chopin.
Alessia continues to explore and expand her love of film music and enjoys broadening her film and tv knowledge. Her favourite film soundtracks include Ennio Morricone's score to Cinema Paradiso which displays his iconic orchestral scoring and Hans Zimmer's score to Interstellar which explores unique capabilities of instrumentation using extensive production techniques.
Overall, Alessia's musical style takes influence from visual cues, emotive and narrative aspects of film and television, and combines a mix of both classical and electronics styles of music.
