Barock Project
Barock Project was born in 2003 and has the goal of matching classic music (mainly baroque), rock and a bit of jazz, sustained by a pop structure to renew the beloved Progressive Rock of 70s. The head and founder of the project is the keyboard player and composer Luca Zabbini, affected by the passion for the famous keyboardist Keith Emerson (ELP). In the summer of 2004, young bass player Giambattista Giorgi, drummer Giacomo Calabria and the voice of Luca Pancaldi joined to the band.
In January 2007, they performed live in Bologna with a string quartet. The arrangements are made by Zabbini and Rock In Theater is the DVD of the concert. At the end of the same year, the first album Misteriose Voci under the label Musea Records was released. In the summer of 2009, the second record, Rebus under the Italian label Mellow Records came out. Both releases gained good reviews.
In March 2012, French label Musea Records published their third album Coffee in Neukölln, written totally in English. This was the work which consecrated Barock Project as a Symphonic Prog Rock international band with a nomination to the Prog Awards 2012. In the same year Eric Ombelli (drum) and Marco Mazzuoccolo (guitar) joined the band. 2014 saw the start of recording of the fourth and more complex album. At the end of 2014, bassist Giorgi left the group and Francesco Caliendo took his place.
In January 2015, Barock Project announced Skyline, edited by Artalia with the help of a fundraising campaign and with participation of two big names of prog: Vittorio De Scalzi (New Trolls) and Paul Whitehead (first cover artist of Genesis). In November of the same year, Alex Mari took the place of Luca Pancaldi. In May 2016 the live Vivo,a double cd, recorded during the tour played in 2015, was released.
In March 2017, the sixth album Detachment saw the light and the band performed in several concerts and festivals such Prog Dreams Festival in Holland and at Symphonic Night Festival at Tsutaya O-East in Tokyo. In 2018, Barock Project was on tour in Holland, in USA at RosFest festival, and once more at Tsutaya O-West in Tokyo. The band completes the year with a concert at Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.
In August 2019, the band signs with the label Immaginifica by Aereostella and in September release the new album Seven Seas. In February 2021, the band released Barock Project – The Boxset, that include the entire remastered band's discography in studio.
In 2022 the band resumed concerts in England, participated in the prestigious Night Of The Prog festival in Loreley in Germany, and as an opener on the P.F.M. Italian tour.
In 2023, the band goes back to work on production of the new studio album, Time Voyager, which was released in June 2024.
