ROCCO PARISI completed his musical studies in Italy, gaining his diploma in clarinet with the massimum marks at the Conservatorio di Alessandria, and subsequently in Holland, studying at the Rotterdam Conservatorium, where he brilliantly gained the Getuigschrift diploma in bass clarinet. He has been the winner of various international competitions, including T.I.M. Rome, the Orpheus Price in Antwerp, and the Concorso Internazionale in Stresa. For four years Parisi took paert in Giuseppe Garbarino's masterclasses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, each year gaining a special grant, and earning at the end of the four - year course the Diploma of Honour. Maestro Garbarino subsequently asked Parisi to become his assistant at the Academy.
Recognised as a talented interpreter of contemporary music and as an innovator of new techniques for the bass clarinet, many original compositions have been dedicated to Parisi, these being performed by him at important Italian festivals, including Chigiana Novità Siena, Settembre Musica Turin, Nuovi Spazi Musicali Rome, and Spazio Musica Cagliari. He also gave the world premier of Luciano Berio's "Sequenza IX c" for bass clarinet. As a soloist he has performed at prestigious venues in several foreign countries. (Basklarinetdagent Gent, Strebel Studio Freiburg, Rotterdam Conservatorium, Centrum Sztuki Wspolczesnej Warsaw, Music Academy of Kracow, UHR Kleinersaal Leipzig.) He has performed as bass clarinettist with a number of Italian orchestras, including the Giovanile Italiana of Fiesole, the "Arturo Toscanini" of Parma, the Orchestra da Camera of Padua, and the Filarmonica of Turin.
Parisi has recorded CDs of Italian music for bass clarinet. He is currently teacher of clarinet at the Conservatorio "A.Vivaldi" of Alessandria.