Born in 1992, Matteo Faotto began studying piano in 2005 and, after a short time, fell in love with composition. In 2011, he was admitted to the G. Verdi Conservatory of Como in the composition class of Vittorio Zago and Antonio Eros Negri. He obtained his bachelor’s degree cum laude in 2018 with his E. A. Poe-inspired opera The Tell-Tale Heart. He has composed over 40 works for various ensembles, mainly in the chamber music field. Over the years, he has attended several masterclasses and seminars with composers such as Gabriele Manca, Javier Torres Maldonado, Oscar Bianchi, Simon Steen-Andersen, and Chaya Czernowin. In 2013, his harp piece Rievocazioni was selected in the competition Resonances - Meetings of New Music. In 2014, his trombone piece Contrasti was published by Edizioni Sconfinarte, and in 2015, his pieces Aforismi III and Tre studietti flessibili for oboe were published by Edizioni Carrara. He has collaborated with renowned Italian musicians, including Donatella Colombo, Alessandro Castelli, Luca Avanzi, Guido Boselli, Marco Bonetti, and Pier Francesco Forlenza. He happily alternates his work as a composer with his role as a consultant in the field of renewable energy and sustainability business. Freedom is his greatest value.

"My reflection on music starts with what we define as 'contemporary' music. In general, we define contemporary music as a specific kind of classical music; but with the era of the internet, everything becomes contemporary since we can freely access all kinds of music. So, in our times, even Mozart or Bach can be considered contemporary composers. My aesthetics stem from this statement. Therefore, my aim as a composer is to create a new musical language that combines the discoveries of 20th-century music with the expressive energy driven by traditional tonal music. This might sound naive, but in reality, it takes more than one effort. I create compositions where extended techniques, tonal chords, new timbre combinations, diatonic melodies, and new conceptions of time melt together to create a new form of expression. I define this kind of music as 'post-tonal' because I use elements of tonal tradition in different contexts of space and time, where noise, dissonance, and melody coexist."