Born in Naples (Italy), Marco Cappelli studied at the Conservatorio di S. Cecilia in Rome (Italy) and then at the Musik Akademie in Basel (Switzerland) in the Konzert-Klasse directed by Oscar Ghiglia.
He has lead since the middle 90ies an extraordinary artistic path, becoming familiar both with rigorous written music as well with free improvisation languages.
The diversity of Marco’s performances is due to a fascinating array of collaborations: Anthony Coleman, Michel Godard, Butch Morris, Franco Piersanti, Jim Pugliese, Enrico Rava, Marc Ribot, Adam Rudolph, Elliott Sharp, Giovanni Sollima, Markus Stockhausen, Cristina Zavalloni… and many more.
He is regularly guest in major classical and contemporary music series (Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Associazione A. Scarlatti di Napoli, Ravenna Festival, Festival Traiettorie di Parma, Cinque passi nel ’900 al Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Guggenheim Museum in New York, Italian Academy at Columbia University New York, Salzburg Festival, Ruhr Triennale, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele…) as well in jazz and avantgarde music festivals (Saalfelden Jazz Festival – Austria, Pomigliano Jazz – Italy, Grim in Marseille – France, Barnsdall Theatre in Los Angeles, MOMA in New York, OutPut Festival in Amsterdam, Montreal Jazz Festival, Cité de la Musique in Paris…), both as a soloist and in ensemble settings.
He co-founded the acclaimed Italian contemporary music group ENSEMBLE DISSONANZEN, the ABC MODERN TRIO (with Lucia Bova, harp and Avi Avital, mandolin) and leads three band projects: MARCO CAPPELLI ACOUSTIC TRIO (with Ken Filiano, bass and Satoshi Takeishi, drums), ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY (with Luca Lo Bianco, e-bass and Francesco Cusa, drums + special guest VJ Lapsus, live visuals) and IDR- ITALIAN DOC REMIX (with Jim Pugliese, coleader and drums, Doug Wieselman, clarinets, Jose` Davila, tuba and trombone, Ken Filiano, bass and DJ Logic, turntables). He is also member of MARC RIBOT CAGED FUNK and ADAM RUDOLPH’S GO: ORGANIC ORCHESTRA.
Marco has recorded three solo guitar cds : Fantasia per Ensemble and Yun Mu for the for the Italian label TDS, and EGP-Extreme Guitar Project: Music from Downtown New York for the prestigiuos American label Mode Records. Mode Records also published two cds by Ensemble Dissonanzen, where Cappelli is involved in G. Petrassi’s and H.W. Henze’s chamber Music. In 2008 the Italian jazz label Itinera released the first cd of Marco’s band IDR – Italian Doc Remix. In 2011, as memorial for the Twin Towers’ attack, Mode Records released In The Shadow of No Towers (a dvd that Marco realized with his band Syntax Error in collaboration with comic artist Art Spiegelman and actor John Turturro, presented in film festival such as Toronto Jewish Film Festival and UK Jewish Film Festival in London). More recently the same label released Les Nuages en France and The American Dream debut albums by, respectively, MARCO CAPPELLI ACOUSTIC TRIO and ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY. In 2013 the second Acoustic Trio cd, titled Le Stagioni del Commissario Ricciardi , has been released by John Zorn’s Tzadik.
In 2012 Marco scored the film INTERVALLO by Leonardo Di Costanzo, which has been premiered at Venice Film Festival 2012 and has gained many reward in film festivals around the world. He composes and plays live his music for the New York based Young Soon Kim Dance Company, which after its successful South Korea tour (2012) will perform at BAM Fisher Theater in Brooklyn (June 2014).