Luca Turilli (born 5 March 1972)
is an Italian
composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is the original guitarist and a founder of the
symphonic power metal band Rhapsody, later called
Rhapsody of Fire
Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre.
Since forming in 1993 as Thundercross, the ban ...
,
for which he composed and arranged all music with his colleague
Alex Staropoli from 1997 until 2011.
In the early 2000s, Turilli released trilogy of solo albums and one album under the name of Luca Turilli's Dreamquest. After his split from Rhapsody of Fire, he released three albums under the name
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody. In 2019 Turilli released an album with other former Rhapsody of Fire members under the name
Turilli / Lione Rhapsody.
In 2020, he announced the release of his debut piano album.
Early life
Turilli was born in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
,
Venezia Giulia,
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. His father was a cello player who died when Turilli was only two years old. He inherited his passion for
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
, and at 16 years old, he started playing guitar. In 1993, Turilli survived cancer at age 21. At the age of 22, he started playing piano.
Career
In 1993, Turilli founded the band Thundercross, which was renamed Rhapsody after releasing the first demo, and renamed once again to Rhapsody of Fire for trademark reasons in 2006.
In 2008, Turilli began an online guitar course titled ''Luca Turilli's Neoclassical Revelation''.
In August 2011, Turilli split from Rhapsody of Fire, choosing to move forward with a new group,
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody. This band released their debut album entitled ''
Ascending to Infinity'' in 2012''.'' Their second album ''
Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus'' followed in 2015, One year later the same album was released under the title ''Prometheus, The Dolby Atmos Experience + Cinematic and Live''. The album, mixed by producer/mixing engineer Chris Heil was the first one in music history to be mixed in
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...
From November 2016 to March 2018, Turilli and his former bandmates
Fabio Lione
Fabio Tordiglione (born 9 October 1973), known professionally as Fabio Lione, is an Italian singer who has worked with many bands in the heavy metal music, heavy metal genre. He was known for being the singer of Italian symphonic power metal ba ...
and
Alex Holzwarth who in the meantime had also left Rhapsody of Fire, toured as Rhapsody Reunion on a tour entitled "20th Anniversary Farewell Tour".
After the tour's ending this same lineup formed a new band entitled
Turilli / Lione Rhapsody. This band released their only album ''
Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)'' in 2019. Turilli / Lione Rhapsody later disbanded in February 2023 following a final tour in Latin America, announcing that they would be "closing the chapter of their career for good".
Playing style
Early in his career, Turilli was influenced by guitarists such as
Yngwie Malmsteen
Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish-American guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal, neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music, heavy metal, and has ...
,
Tony MacAlpine,
Marty Friedman
(born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...
and especially
Jason Becker who is considered by him today as the greatest guitarist ever. His lead playing often includes extensive use of sweep picked arpeggios, tremolo picking, classically influenced phrases, and scales such as
aeolian,
harmonic minor,
phrygian,
locrian, and
melodic minor
In Classical_music, Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three Scale (music), scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending).
...
. In his latest albums, he introduced new ethnic elements such as
Hirajoshi and
Pentatonic
A pentatonic scale is a Scale (music), musical scale with five Musical note, notes per octave, in contrast to heptatonic scales, which have seven notes per octave (such as the major scale and minor scale).
Pentatonic scales were developed inde ...
scales. As a pianist, his main influences are
Romantic pianists like
Chopin and contemporary composers such as
Ludovico Einaudi
Ludovico Maria Enrico Einaudi OMRI (; born 23 November 1955) is an Italian pianist and composer. Trained at the Milan Conservatory, Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, Einaudi began his career as a classical composer, later incorporating other styles ...
,
Yann Tiersen
Yann Pierre Tiersen (born 23 June 1970) is a French Breton musician and composer. His musical career is split between studio recordings, music collaborations, and film soundtracks songwriting. His music incorporates a large variety of classical ...
,
Yiruma and
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
.
Discography
Studio albums:
* ''
King of the Nordic Twilight'' (1999)
* ''
Prophet of the Last Eclipse'' (2002)
* ''
The Infinite Wonders of Creation'' (2006)
Rhapsody of Fire
Rhapsody of Fire (formerly known as Rhapsody) is an Italian symphonic power metal band formed by Luca Turilli and Alex Staropoli, widely seen as a pioneer of the symphonic power metal subgenre.
Since forming in 1993 as Thundercross, the ban ...
Studio albums:
* ''
Legendary Tales'' (1997)
* ''
Symphony of Enchanted Lands'' (1998)
* ''
Dawn of Victory'' (2000)
* ''
Rain of a Thousand Flames'' (2001)
* ''
Power of the Dragonflame'' (2002)
* ''
Symphony of Enchanted Lands II – The Dark Secret'' (2004)
* ''
Triumph or Agony'' (2006)
* ''
The Frozen Tears of Angels'' (2010)
* ''
From Chaos to Eternity'' (2011)
EPs and live albums:
* ''The Dark Secret'' (2004)
* ''
Live in Canada 2005: The Dark Secret'' (2006)
* ''
The Cold Embrace of Fear – A Dark Romantic Symphony'' (2010)
Luca Turilli's Dreamquest
Studio albums:
* ''Lost Horizons'' (2006)
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody
Studio albums:
* ''
Ascending to Infinity'' (2012)
* ''
Prometheus, Symphonia Ignis Divinus'' (2015)
Live albums:
* ''Prometheus, The Dolby Atmos Experience + Cinematic and Live'' (2016)
Turilli / Lione Rhapsody
Studio albums:
*''
Zero Gravity (Rebirth and Evolution)'' (2019)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turilli, Luca
1972 births
Rhapsody of Fire members
Living people
Musicians from Trieste
Italian male guitarists
Luca Turilli (band) members
Luca Turilli's Rhapsody members
Luca Turilli's Dreamquest members
English-language singers from Italy