Born in 1985 in Castelfranco Veneto, he graduated with top marks and honors under the guidance of Maestro Pietro Serafin and studied chamber music with Maestros Filippo Faes and Domenico Nordio at the Conservatory of the same city.
He studied with the following teachers: Franco Maggio Ormezowski, Yvan Chiffoleau, Alain Meunier, and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Rohan de Saram and Antonio Meneses, from whom he received the Diploma of Merit.
Also in Siena, he furthered his studies in the chamber music class of the Trio di Trieste, from which he again received a Diploma of Merit.
He studied at the Accademia Walter Stauffer in Cremona with Maestro Rocco Filippini and attended the annual advanced courses in Castelfranco Veneto with Mario Brunello.
He graduated “mit Auszeichnung” (with distinction) in the class of Prof. Enrico Bronzi at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg.
In 2006 he won the National Competition “Società Umanitaria” in Milan, chaired by Maestro Marcello Abbado, and recorded a CD for Sarx Records. In 2007 he won the sixth edition of the competition “La Fabbrica delle Note” in Padua, chaired by Maestro Marian Mika, and also in 2007 won first prize at the National String Competition in Vittorio Veneto, chaired by Maestro Rocco Filippini. In 2008 he won first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition “Premio Città di Padova.” At the sixth edition of the International Chamber Music Competition “Silvio Omizzolo” (2008), he won, in duo with Pierluigi Piran, the special prize for the best performance of Omizzolo’s Sonata. In 2010 he won third prize at the Enrico Mainardi Violoncello Wettbewerb in Salzburg.
He has recorded for Velut Luna, Urania Records, Sarx Records, Da Vinci Classic, and OEHMS Classics.
He has performed chamber music concerts with artists such as Mario Brunello, Augustin Dumay, Maureen Jones, Alberto Miodini, Amiram Ganz, Simone Briatore, Alessandro Moccia, William Coleman, Ilya Grubert, Filippo Gamba, Toby Hoffman, Eliot Lawson, Enrico Bronzi, Alessandro Taverna, Alexander Hoenthal, Enrico Fagone, Eva Bindere, Roman Spitzer, V. Mendellsohn, Alessandro Moccia, Domenico Nordio, and the Quartetto Prometeo.
In 2010, at the age of twenty-five, he won the position of principal cello (1st Stimmführer) in the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, where he remained until 2012. During this period he collaborated with conductors such as Dmitri Kitajenko, Ivor Bolton, Giovanni Antonini, Leo Hussain, Trevor Pinnock, Markus Stenz, Zolt Hamar, Heinrich Schiff, Marc Minkowski, Mark Wigglesworth, and Alexander Shelley.
In 2012 he was offered a contract for the 2012/13 season with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, one of the most important orchestras in the world. As guest principal cellist he has collaborated with the Hessischer Rundfunk (Frankfurt Radio Symphony), the Orchestra of the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Salzburg Orchester Solisten, Orchestra La Verdi in Milan, the Teatro Filarmonico and Arena di Verona, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, and the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
In 2012 Damiano Scarpa was invited to serve on the jury of the IX International Cello Competition “Janigro” for young musicians, held in Pore? (Croatia).
He has also been assistant to Enrico Bronzi at the international masterclasses associated with the Portogruaro International Music Festival and in Neuberg for the “Neuberger Kulturtage” in Austria. He regularly gives masterclasses at the Collegium Musicum Schloss Pommersfelden in Bavaria. Since 2016 he has been a teacher at the annual advanced courses of the Fondazione Santa Cecilia in Portogruaro (Venice).
From 2020 to 2024 Damiano Scarpa was principal cellist of the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana and professor of cello at the Conservatorio Alessandro Scarlatti in Palermo. Currently, following the success in a public competition, he holds the chair of cello at the Conservatorio Statale A. Steffani in Castelfranco Veneto.
Damiano Scarpa plays a cello made by Vincenzo Postiglione in Naples in 1905