Michele Polga is one of the most exciting contemporary jazz musicians and composers in Italy today. He studied saxophone at Conservatorio Musicale “Martini” in Bologna and graduated in 1995. With an early interest in jazz, he took his first saxophone lessons with Maurizio Caldura and attended a masterclass held by Joe Lovano in 1995. During the summer of 1999 he won a scholarship at the international workshop held by the Manhattan School of Music of New York organized by Veneto Jazz. Following the Siena Jazz 2000 edition he was granted a scholarship in June 2001 for the 12th meeting of IASJ (International Association of Schools of Jazz) at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The same year he received his diploma in jazz music at the Conservatorio di Musica “Bomporti” in Trento. Michele Polga has performed at numerous international jazz festivals, venues and clubs in Europe. He has played and recorded with such notable artists as: Billy Hart, Tony Scott, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Maria Schneider, Cecil Bridgewater, Cameron Brown, U.T. Gandhi, Marc Abrams, Jeff Gardner, Ben Riley, Dick Oatts, Eliot Zigmund, Charlie Persip, Andrea Lombardini, Francesco Bearzatti, Claudio Fasoli, Paolo Fresu, Fabrizio Bosso and Ferenc Nemeth, among others. Michele Polga has just released his new album Clouds Over Me that will be presented live at Skopje Jazz Festival 2009.
