Draft:Licia Missori

Licia Missori (born February 23 1986) is an Italian pianist, composer, songwriter and music producer. Her work spans a diverse array of genres ranging from classical music to rock and dark wave as well as symphonic metal, Celtic fusion and video game music.

Missori started playing the piano between the age of three and four. Trained a classical pianist from the age of five and composing from around the age of six her work is characterized by a classical influence showcasing both her talent as pianist in her performances and versatility in her compositions.

As a classical pianist, Missori has performed as a soloist and with orchestras, including the Roman Xilon Orchestra.

In the rock scene, Missori has toured and recorded albums with several acts, including Belladonna, Spiral69, Steve Hewitt from Placebo, The Dogma as an opening act for Lordi and the German symphonic metal band Haggard.

Missori founded the rock band The Dark Side of Venus in 2010, for which she is a songwriter, composer and keyboardist. Also since 2010, Missori is a member of the Celtic fusion band Green Clouds as keyboardist in the character of Erin.

Since 2002, Missori has released solo albums periodically consisting of original compositions, transcriptions and covers of popular songs, starting with Flowered Emotions (2002), followed by Nuits Blanches (2003), Amore e Morte (2009), Neverland (2015), Nostalgia del Futuro (2021), Dreaming Together (2022), Alternative Dimensions (2023) and Video Game Soundtracks Vol. 1 (2023) containing her video game music compositions for Gamindo.

Early life and education
Licia Missori was born on 23 February 1986 in Rome, Italy. She started playing the piano between the age of three and four presumably on a keyboard belonging to her older brother. A video on Missori's YouTube channel titled A VERY small Licia Missori playing keyboards! shows Missori at the age of four playing Frère Jacques, Happy Birthday to You, Silent Night, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, a fragment from Ode to Joy and With a Little Help from My Friends from The Beatles on mentioned keyboard.

Missori started attending classical piano training at the age of five in 1991 where she was trained by maestro Elisa Marchettini until 2010 and continued her training with maestro Alessandro Stella from 2010 until 2012. She attended a course in jazz piano (2005 to 2006) at the Percentomusica music school in Rome with maestro Massimo Fedeli, as well as courses in pop music (2007 to 2008) and composing (2010).

Soon after commencing her classical training Missori developed a keen fascination for the romantic compositions of Frédéric Chopin, which significantly influenced her artistic identity, reflected particularly in her later solo albums.

Education
Graduating cum laude from the Cavour Scientific High School in 2004, Missori acquired a bachelor’s degree in Music and Drama (cum laude) in 2010 followed by a master's degree in Musical Cultures of the Twentieth Century (cum laude) in 2018, both at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Missori attended a course in Digital Communication and Social Media Marketing (cum laude) in the following year of 2019, also at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, after which she acquired two additional master's degrees in Video Game Music Composition (cum laude) at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in 2020 and in Music and Performing Arts (cum laude) at the Roma Tre University in 2023.

Career
Licia Missori has been releasing solo albums since 2002 most of which contain original piano compositions that are characterized by romantic and neoromantic influences and, as such, emphasize on (intense) emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience.

Missori released her first solo album Flowered Emotions in 2002 at the age of 16 soon followed by Nuits Blanches in 2003, both albums consisting of compositions she wrote mostly during her childhood. Shortly after graduating the Cavour Scientific High School in 2004 Missory began giving live performances in 2005 for various theatrical productions in Rome  during which she gained her first experience performing live on stage.

Since then Missori has had an eclectic career as pianist, composer, producer and founder of musical collectives across a diverse array of musical genres that include classical music, rock, dark wave, symphonic metal, Celtic fusion and video game music, touring the countries of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, UK, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and her native country of Italy.

Missori herself became a private piano teacher in 2008 (to present) after seventeen years of classical piano training, also teaching solfeggio and music theory and working as a freelance music sheet transcriber. She joined an independent art project in the same year where she composed the piano soundtrack for the silent film The Fall of the House of Usher by Jean Epstein and performed live (on piano) alongside the movie projection on film-themed events in Italy until 2012.

Her third solo album Amore & Morte (2009) she released a year later in 2009, which she described as being "much more dark, romantic, dramatic and mature" [compared to her previous two solo albums], the booklet in the CD version containing Missori's first published poetry complementing the album's musical compositions.

During the same year Missori started collaborating and touring with other artists notably in the rock–, alternative rock– and metal scene, joining the alternative rock band Spiral69 in 2009 as pianist (until 2013) where she would tour Italy, Germany and Ukraine and later feature on their albums No paint on the wall (2011) and Ghosts in my eyes (2013).

Missori joined the 80s inspired metal and symphonic metal formation The Dogma in the next year of 2010 as keyboard player for their tour across Germany and Austria as an opening act for Lordi. She founded the rock formation The Dark Side of Venus in the same year, adopting influences from the alternative rock scene of the '90s, synth pop music from the ’80s and Missori's classical heritage to –in her words– "express a part of herself that had previously been in the dark", the name of the band referring to the hidden side of the planet Venus and originating in Roman mythology as being the goddess of love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory.

Also in 2010 Missori started collaborating with Elisa Erin Bonomo (Italian rock and alternative rock) until present and joined the Celtic fusion band Green Clouds until present as keyboardist in the character of Erin.

In the following year Missori became a member of the alternative rock and dark wave band The Divinos as pianist for their 2011 Italy and UK tour and she joined the Italian rock band Belladonna as pianist (until 2013) touring the UK, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. As mentioned, Missori featured on Spiral69's album No paint on the Wall (2011) as pianist, also making her debut in a music video for the track Best porno (2011) from the same album.

During 2011 Missori also composed the soundtrack for the documentary The Murders of the Monster of Florence, directed by Paolo Cochi and aired on Sky Italia in the same year.

Missori featured in several album collaborations and music videos in the next year of 2012 appearing on Love after the end of the world (2012) by Pure and The Divino Code (2012) by the alternative rock and dark wave band The Divinos, as well as in the music videos The Divino Code (2012) and Vieni via con me (2012) from the same album. Missori's 2010 founded rock formation The Dark Side of Venus released its first album Dirty Paradise (2012) during the same year for which she was composer, lyricist, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, sound designer, recording engineer and producer and she released her first solo music video as producer, screenwriter and actress for her neoromantic piano composition Autunno (2012).

Notably in 2012 Missori published her first book Dolce notte tossica. La storia di quando sono morta (Sweet toxic night. The story of when I died) containing Missori's personal poetry.

Continuing her solo– and collaborative musical projects Missori founded the female trio Neverflowers in 2012 as pianist, composer, arranger and lyricist, who released their album Neverflowers a year later in 2013 for which Missori was composer, lyricist, pianist, keyboardist, arranger and producer. She contributed to Ida Elena's single Awakening (2013), who would also appear in Missor's second solo music video Neverland (2013) featuring Valentina Spreca as vocalist, releasing her third solo music video Giardino dei sogni perduti (2013) soon after, both music videos of which Missori was producer and actress for. In addition Missori featured as pianist on Belladonna's rock album Shooting dice with God (2013) and their single Sweet child o’ mine (2013), and –as mentioned– performed on Spiral69's 2013 alternative rock album Ghosts in my eyes as well as in the album's music videos Please (2013), feat. Steve Hewitt, and No heart (2013).

In 2014 Missori joined the Italian singer Lighea as keyboard player on her Italian tour. She appeared as pianist on the 2014 rock album I mostri (The monsters) by the Italian band Chiazzetta and the rock album The pain you feel by R, released early 2015.

Missori's fourth solo album Neverland, on which she had been working since 2012, she finished and released in 2015 as composer, pianist, sansula player, songwriter, vocalist and producer , performing as actress in the music video from the album's second track Song for Alex (2015).

Following in 2015 and 2016 Missori starred as pianist in Giancarlo Giannini’s theatrical performance Omaggio a Massimo Troisi directed by Gian Paolo Mai, touring Italy.

Album collaborations
* Single.

Books

 * Missori, L. (2012). Dolce notte tossica. La storia di quando sono morta. Centro Studi Tindari Patti. ISBN: 8896497876, EAN: 9788896497876.
 * Missori, L. (2024). Musica per videogiochi. Edizioni Dedalo. In press. ISBN: 8822069196, EAN: 9788822069191.