About Damiano
Damiano Pascarelli (1987) is a composer and arranger originally from Italy, currently based in Amsterdam.
In April 2025, Damiano recorded his debut album with the Metropole Orkest conducted by Jochen Neuffer and co-produced by Miho Hazama, featuring guest soloists Ben Wendel (tenor sax, FX), Aaron Parks (piano, synth) and Anna Serierse (vocals). The album (release date TBA) includes seven of his original compositions.
In his new work, Damiano explores new orchestral possibilities within the contemporary jazz idiom, blending texture-based orchestration, minimalist patterns and atmospheric soundscapes with the harmonic and melodic sophistication of composers such as Vince Mendoza and Maria Schneider. Drawing from his collaborations with the Metropole Orkest and world-renowned artists, he expands the orchestra’s sonic palette while refining his own voice as a composer. The unique musical voices of Ben Wendel and Aaron Parks shape the improvisational side of the music. Damiano draws inspiration from their playing, exploring ways to connect their language with his own compositional approach.
Damiano is the winner of the prestigious “Rogier van Otterloo Award” 2019 assigned yearly by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds to a promising composer/arranger active in the Netherlands. He also received the 2024 SONIC Award in the category ‘Best Arrangement’ from ISJAC (International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers).
Damiano regularly collaborates with the Metropole Orkest and many other world-class orchestras such as the WDR Big Band Cologne, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, the Heritage Orchestra, the SWR Big Band Stuttgart and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
He has written arrangements for concerts and recording projects featuring artists such as Lalah Hathaway, Kurt Elling, Jacob Collier, Dee Dee Bridgewater, George Benson, Chaka Khan, Lizz Wright, Take 6 and many others. Among his recent collaborations, he arranged Tineke Postma’s composition ‘Into the Dawn of Light’ for the album ‘Arakatak’ (2026), released by the Metropole Orkest on the occasion of their 80th anniversary.
Between 2016 and 2020 Damiano was one of the arrangers involved in the Quincy Jones celebration concerts that were performed at some of the most prestigious European music festivals (BBC Proms 2016, Jazz Open Stuttgart 2017, Umbria Jazz 2018 and more). These concerts featured - alongside Quincy Jones himself - the likes of George Benson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jacob Collier, Take 6 and Patti Austin.
Damiano has been praised for the lyricism of his writing and his “contemporary approach to composing and arranging within an idiom rich in tradition” (jury report Rogier van Otterloo Award 2019). His sensitivity and open-minded attitude has given him control over a wide range of contemporary musical styles. His work has been performed at iconic stages and festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, the Concertgebouw and Bimhuis.