Alessandro "Alex" Staropoli (born 9 January 1970) is a keyboard player,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

and co-founder of the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. He does the orchestral arrangements in all the band's songs. Following the split with Turilli, Staropoli is Rhapsody of Fire's only remaining founding member.

Biography

Staropoli 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, ...

. As a child he was mainly interested in nature – mountains, forests and lakes. At the age of nine he got his first

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and began to study its basics, and at the age of fourteen he bought his first

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. After meeting Luca, but before the creation of Rhapsody of Fire, he bought a Korg 01/W pro keyboard, a model he still uses. Alex and Luca met in 1990 during a course in mental techniques (how to have more control of your own mind), and together they started the band Rhapsody (later named as Rhapsody of Fire) in 1993.

References

External links

Official Homepage

Official Rhapsody Of Fire Website
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Interview with Alex Staropoli
1970 births Living people Musicians from Trieste Italian male composers Heavy metal keyboardists Italian keyboardists Rhapsody of Fire members Italian male pianists {{classical-pianist-stub