Michele Marelli, who holds a major in clarinet with highest honors "Summa cum laude" from the Conservatorio Antonio Vivaldi of Alessandria, the city where he was born, under the guidance of Prof. Giacomo Soave, and a degree in Modern Literature from the University of Turin with a thesis on Karlheinz Stockhausen, furthered his studies in England with Alan Hacker, in Germany with Suzanne Stephens and in France with Alain Damiens, and studied composition and electronic music in Torino and Milano.
Internationally acclaimed as a virtuoso of the basset horn and as one of the best contemporary music soloists of his generation, he is also active as a painter and as a composer.
In October 2014 he has been awarded the prestigious Rubinstein Prize "Una vita nella musica giovani" at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice together with the composer Salvatore Sciarrino, considered by the critics as a Nobel for music.
In the Summer of 2016, his debut album for DECCA classics was released featuring works by Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez (Dialogue de l'ombre double), Brian Ferneyhough (La chute d'Icare), Giacinto Scelsi and solos written for him by György Kurtág, Ivan Fedele and Marco Stroppa.
He has worked with some of the leading composers of our times, giving world premieres of their compositions mostly dedicated to him, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Kurtàg, Marco Stroppa, Helmut Lachenmann, Ivan Fedele, Franco Donatoni, Kaija Saariaho, Rebecca Saunders, Fabio Nieder [it], Sylvano Bussotti, Alberto Colla [it], Luca Francesconi and many others.