Composer (Italy) The cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima was born in Palermo in 1962 to a family of musicians. He graduated from the Conservatory of Palermo and completed his education in Saltzburg and Stuttgard. At the beginning of his artistic life, Sollima undertook a brilliant, international career as cellist, collaborating with great musicians, such as Claudio Abbado, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jorg Demusand Martha Argerich, at Lincoln Center in New York, Mozarteumin Salzburg, Théatre Chaillotin Paris, among others.