La Torre dell'Alchimista

La Torre dell'Alchimista (translated as "The Alchemist's Tower") was founded in Bergamo, Italy in 1997 by Michele Giardino, Davide Donadoni and Michele Mutti to record original symphonic progressive rock in the grand tradition of Italian legends Le Orme, PFM and Banco del Mutuo Soccorso. About a year later, they sketched out the melodic and harmonic structure of a few songs that later appeared on their debut album. The trio then decided to add a drummer to complete the compositions and for live performances. After a long search for a good stylistic fit, they selected Noberto Mosconi. With him in the fold the young band was able to compose and arrange more intricate pieces in the symphonic rock vein. In summer 1999 La Torre dell'Alchimista began its career as a live performing unit. Featuring original material focused on Mutti's trusty Hammond C3 organ and a battery of other analog keyboards, as well as some Italian - and English - language prog rock covers, early shows were well received. A national benefit concert in September 1999 drew the attention of the host of a progressive rock show on a popular Milan radio station, who began to regularly feature La Torre's music on his program. By November 1999 the band added yet another new member, flautist Silvia Ceraolo. She provided more melodic color and backing vocals, adding a pleasing male/female vocal contrast to the group's sound. Her live debut with La Torre dell'Alchimista was in May 2000, when the band supported an acoustic project of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso guitarist Rodolfo Maltese and vocalist Francesco DiGiacomo. Later in the summer and fall of 2000, La Torre was a finalist at the Vigevano Prog Contest and also on a Milan TV competition for unsigned groups called "Emergenti Live". At this time the band signed their first recording contract, with Raoul Caprio's world-famous progressive label Kaliphonia. In February 2001 La Torre dell'Alchimista recorded its eponymous debut album. La Torre dell'Alchimista's debut album was one of the best progressive rock albums of 2001, ranking 3rd place in the Internet polling of the popular ProgAndOther mailing list, an outstanding finish for a new group. Recently Elena Biagioni (backing vocals, piano) has joined the band, aiming at bringing out the vocal complexity of the songs and allowing a dual keyboard approach in the live setting. La Torre dell'Alchimista was widely considered the "Rookie of the Year" in the prog rock world for 2001. Near Fest After the wide success of the debut album TdA received an invitation to NEARFest 2002 and presented their first ever performance outside of the Italian peninsula. In early 2005 the group released "USA...you know?" a live recording out from the NEARFest concert. Gouveia Art Rock In april 2004 TdA participated in Gouveia Art Rock Festival, in Portugal. Tha band opened the main show for Swedish "Isildur's Bane". The concert is avalaible on DVD alongwith the other bands' performances. After the Portuguese event the group line up has changed, including new drummer Michelangelo Donadini and new wind-player Mauro Donini. After only two live show Mauro split up from the band. In April 2007 was published the new band's album: "Neo". Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.