Giovanna Dongu
*5 May 1974
Works by Giovanna Dongu
Biography
Born on 5 May 1974 in Sassari. She started studying Piano from a very early age and graduated in 1993 with top marks cum laude at the Conservatory where she lived, in Sassari, and then went on to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique “Alfred Cortot” in Paris and the Roman Academy of Music. She also gained a diploma in Choral Music and Choral Conduction at the Sassari Conservatory in 1999, and a further diploma with Maestro Riccardo Dapelo in 2001 in Composition with top marks. Her compositions have been highly appreciated in important events, performed by renowned maestros and gained a number of International Competition awards (Italy, Greece, Holland, Belgium, Japan, United States ...). In October 2011 she was invited to the University of Oldenburg to hold a Komponisten Colloquium on her works. The Musical Chapel of Assisi commissioned her to write the composition on the "Canticle of creatures" by San Francesco for the Azuni choral and instrumental ensemble and the "Laudate et Benedicite" Choir of Sassari, successfully presented at the "Pax Mundi" Festival in Assisi in 'October 2016 and March 2017 in Paris. Among his recent works, the stage action “Identità”, successfully represented in 2018 in Cagliari and Sassari, written according to a graphic and gestural notation that leaves space and possibilities for improvisation and expression for the performers. His latest work is the book "Il Solfeggio è Musica!", Published in 2021 by the Sinfonica publishing house in Milan.
About the music
My music is characterized by the synthesis between the advanced languages of the contemporaneity and the richness of the musical traditions of my land. Sardinia has an exceptionally strong and charming character cultural identity that has been preserved over time with care and dedication. I love to define "contemporary music" as "playing with sound" and I feel I have a great affinity with the world of children, that primordial part of all of us which is made up of love for sound, need for sound ... I have studied long and passionately the reactions of children when they discover musical elements. With them, I also thought how to stimulate the ability to listen to sound in the reality in which they live and to which they belong. That’s how my book "On the footsteps of sounds ... first sound experiences." was born. It is a book for kindergarten, primary and music schools. It was written between 2001-2005 and published by Agenda Bologna productions.
