Alex Staropoli

Alessandro "Alex" Staropoli (born 9 January 1970 in Trieste, Italy) is a keyboard player, composer, leader and co-founder (with Luca Turilli) of the Italian symphonic power metal band Rhapsody of Fire. He does the orchestral arrangements in all the band's songs. Following the split with Turilli, Staropoli is Rhapsody of Fire's only remaining founding member.
Alex and Luca met in 1990 during a course in mental techniques (how to have more control of your own mind), and together they started the band Rhapsody (later named as Rhapsody of Fire) in 1993.
When Alex was a child he was mainly interested in nature - mountains, forests and lakes. At the age of nine he got his first piano and began to study its basics, and at the age of fourteen he bought his first electric guitar. After meeting Luca, but before the creation of Rhapsody of Fire, he bought a Korg 01/W pro keyboard, a model he still uses.

Alex has started working on his first solo album with his brother Manuel, who is also featured on every Rhapsody of Fire album playing the baroque recorder and flutes. He has stated that he is writing the songs together with Manuel, and that he is aiming for an album using more heavy metal elements than the orchestral style of Rhapsody of Fire.