MUSIC, TIME AND THE INFINITE
Restlessness and research: my life in brief.
Nicola Bortone was born in Turin on May 25, 1978. His childhood was marked by numerous moves across southern Italy, where he lived for several years. At the age of 12, he picked up the guitar, influenced by his first important listens: Pink Floyd, The Doors, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. He was later shaped by ethnic, medieval, Celtic and classical music.
From this period comes his debut album with his friend Mauro Pertosa, with whom he recorded Cantico dei Cantici Vol. 1in 2002. This was followed in 2004 by Cantico dei Cantici Vol. 2, a rather troubled work that was in fact released unfinished.
In 2005 he recorded, together with the Calabrian singer-songwriter Danilo Minervino, an album about the life of Saint Francis of Paola, Charitas Christi, which also became an experimental theatrical production directed by Antonio Malfitano.
In 2006 he moved to Turin, where he founded the band Perenne Symposio with Mauro Pertosa, releasing first Non ditelo a nessuno and then in 2008 Terra Bruciata, a restless and existential album that vividly reflects the torments, dreams, and aspirations of that period. After winning several awards and performing on numerous stages in the Piedmont area, Perenne Symposio eventually disbanded.
This was followed by a period of creative dryness, also caused by the disappointment of the record industry and the lucid shattering of his youthful dreams. During this time, he worked on an original musical written by Antonio Malfitano, Magna Grecia, for which he composed the score.
In those years he also performed as a street musician throughout Liguria and southern France with a small ensemble, offering a repertoire of traditional Irish and Celtic music.
In 2014 he moved with his family on mission to Austria, where he still resides today.
Here, new projects have taken shape.
As a solo artist, he can give free rein to his creativity and explore new compositional horizons.
Thus were born Nicostrauss, with its evocative, epic and fantasy-inspired sounds, and Hesychasmos, a more intimate and meditative project inspired by Gregorian and monastic atmospheres.