Cosimo Carovani revives the ancient yet recently dormant tradition of the instrumentalist-composer in a way that serves as a fertile example for today's musicians. Drawing from a deep knowledge of the repertoire, spanning from the ancient to the contemporary, he is not constrained by the past but engages in dialogue with it to express the essence of our present. Authenticity and individuality emerge in his work, striking a balance between formal exploration and the immediacy of improvisational spirit.

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Luca Ciammarughi - Pianist, Musicologist

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Born in Florence, Cosimo Carovani is a soloist, chamber musician, composer, and writer.
A dynamic and exuberant voice of Italian cello music, he is regarded as a musician of great versatility and culture, endowed with freshness and depth, and one of the most vibrant voices of his generation.

Passionate and curious, with a deep love for music and art in all its forms, he constantly seeks new ways of expression, innovation, and communication. This drive leads him to continuously explore and deepen his understanding of music's emotional and human potential. As a communicator, he is committed to sharing his love for music, aiming to reveal new, more intimate and human aspects of music and demonstrating its relevance and necessity in the present day.
His dedication to spreading musical knowledge and promoting a deeper, more authentic experience of music makes him a valuable contributor to the music community, inspiring others to discover and appreciate the beauty and complexity of music in all its forms.

A chamber musician by calling, he has won first prize and two additional awards with the Indaco Quartet at the Osaka Chamber Music Competition. He was also a finalist at the Paolo Borciani International Competition (2017), Manhattan Competition (2022), and Golden Medal. He has performed for broadcasters such as Radio Tre Piazza Verdi, Rai 5, and Hannover's NDR, and has participated in various festivals as a chamber musician and soloist, including Heidelberger Frühling, Grunelius Concert in Frankfurt, the Società del Quartetto di Milano, the “Paesaggi Toscani” Festival, the Società dei Concerti di Milano, Festival Musica nei Chiostri, Quatuor à Bordeaux, Festival Trame Sonore, Festival Stradivari in Cremona, Società Filarmonica di Trento, and many others.

He has received scholarships, including the prestigious DAAD Prize, Live Music Now Stipendium, Börsen Club Hannover, Giuseppe Scotese Prize, Jeunesse Musical, and the Morosini Cultural Foundation Prize.

Carovani graduated with top honors from the "Luigi Cherubini" Conservatory in Florence under the guidance of Andrea Nannoni, while simultaneously attending courses at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole with Filippo Burchietti. He later refined his skills with Enrico Bronzi in Portogruaro, Giovanni Gnocchi and Stefano Cerrato at the "Incontri col Maestro" Academy in Imola, and in 2018 with Enrico Dindo at the Pavia Cello Academy. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Media in Hannover, studying under Tilmann Wick.

He participated in the summer sessions of the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), attended advanced string quartet courses at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and the Musikhochschule in Hannover.

Carovani is principal cellist with the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra, where he co-created the Qu.B.E. (Quartet Based Ensemble) project. He has also collaborated as a principal cellist with orchestras such as the O.R.T., the “Leonore” Orchestra of Pistoia, the Colibrì Ensemble, and OFT in Turin.

He actively collaborates with internationally renowned artists such as Avi Avital, Alexander Lonquich, Uri Caine, Michele Campanella, Derek Bermel, Claudia Barainsky, Mao Fujita, Julian Bliss, Francesco Dillon, Giovanni Bietti, Alessandro Taverna, Franziska Pietsch, and many others.

He has also studied contemporary orchestration, composition, and music engraving with Andrea Portera. A winner of multiple competitions, his catalog, despite his young age, already includes more than eighty works and is published by Curci and Sconfinarte in Milan.

He records for Da Vinci Publishing, Brilliant Classics, Sconfinarte, Concerto Classics, and Ema Vinci. In 2021, together with the Indaco Quartet, he released the ambitious project Dante 21 in collaboration with Sconfinarte in Milan, participating as both performer and composer. That same year saw the release of the first volume of his solo piano compositions, followed by his debut album as a solo cellist and conductor with the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra, Tales of Dusk.

In 2021, his second narrative book, Intorno alla Musica (Around Music), was published by NeoClassica. This is a small anthology of reflections on the future of classical music in Western society and the role of classical musicians in the near future.

In 2024, having won the “Per chi Crea” grant, he recorded a monograph of his works for string orchestra (Trittico) with the Milano Classica Chamber Orchestra, featuring Giovanni Sollima as solo cellist.

He plays a Charles Claudot cello from 1840, which he owns.