Born in 1975 in Milano, Italy Tommaso started playing the saxophone and studying music at the age of 18. He moved to
the United Kingdom in 1994 where he graduated at Birmingham Conservatoire with a Bmus first class honours and later
at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama with a Postgraduate Degree in jazz studies in the year 2000. He has
performed with some of the most respected jazz musicians including Paolo Fresu, Dave O'Higgins, Fabrizio Bosso,
Billy Cobham, David Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzmann, Paolo Pellegatti.
In the year 2004 he
collaborated with award winning oscar film composer Dario Marianelli ( 'Pride and Prejudice' and ' The Atonement' )
recording music for 'This Little Life', a BBC drama for Channel Four. In 2008 Tommaso was awarded with an Honorary
Membership by Birmingham Conservatoire given to him for his significant contributions made across the years within
the various branches of the music profession.Tommaso has been performing in many Jazz Festivals and Clubs across the world, some of them include: The Purcell Room, Blue Note Milano, Cadogan Hall, Eleuthera All That Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival,Time in Jazz Festival, Nuoro Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival, Torino/Biella/Genova Jazz Clubs, Mito Festival, Chur jazz Club, Luzern jazz Club, and many more.
He has been keeping busy as a band leader recording ten albums and choosing projects which display different sides to his musicianship. He has also experimented changing the organic of his groups from Quintets to Quartets, Trios, Duets and ultimately solo saxophone where he's currently recording the Cello Suites of Sebastian Bach on soprano saxophone exploring the acoustics of six different churches in the UK.
His latest recording 'The Power of Three' is a collaboration with piano virtuoso Jim Watson and electric bass Maestro Laurence Cottle. Tommaso treats this recording as a jam session choosing some of his favourite tunes and composers and putting together an album which displays different styles of music from funk, to latin, bossa, ballads and Swing. Some of the composers included in the album are Ennio Morricone, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Timmons, Pino Daniele, Chick Corea.
In 2018 Tommaso records two albums very different in flavour: 'Tommaso Starace Quintet - Eleuthera All That Jazz' and ' Tommaso Starace Harmony-Less Quartet, Narrow Escape' The first album is a collaboration with the Eleuthera All That Jazz Festival which takes place on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and of which Tommaso has been part for the past four years. The talented musicians who guest on the album are mostly from the main island of Nassau: Lamont Gibson on trumpet, Adrian D'Aguilar on bass, Kevin Dean on drums. The great Italian pianist Massimo Colombo joins the band on Fender Rhodes. The music reflects the atmosphere and beauty of Eleuthera and the lively and colourful vibe of the festival which lasts for five consecutive days, therefore there are several latin tunes and a total of 6 originals written by Tommaso and Massimo. The second album, as the title of the group suggests, is piano-less and features two saxophones, bass and drums: Tommaso on alto sax, Dave O'Higgins on tenor sax, Davide Liberti on bass and Ruben Bellavia on drums. The album is pretty much rooted in the Be-Bop tradition with a combination of unusual jazz standards and originals.
Past albums also include 'From a Distant Past', a collaboration with longtime musical partner pianist Michele Di Toro performing together in a duo setting.'Italian Short Stories' an album dedicated to the images of Italian Photographer Maestro Gianni Berengo Gardin: a trip through different cities of Italy where Berengo has taken some of his most iconic black and white shots. The compositions are inspired by each of the images of Berengo and the music is supposed to reinforce the story behind the photos. Other recorded albums include: 'Celebrating the Music of Michel Petrucciani', 'Blood & Champagne', 'Don't Forget', 'Tommaso Starace plays the photos of Elliott Erwitt'.
Tommaso is currently busy performing concerts with several of his projects all over Europe.