UE composers from Italy

I was born in Prato (Italy) and started to study drums and piano at a young age. I studied Percussion Instruments with M° Domenico Fontana at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence, graduating and later achieving Master’s degree with full marks with honors. At the same time I achieved Bachelor’s degree in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Florence. I have studied Composition with M° Barbara Rettagliati and I'm attending the Bachelor’s degree course of Composition, always at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory, with M° Paolo Furlani. I played in various ensembles, from the local wind bands to orchestras like Orchestra del Maggio Fiorentino, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, Orchestra del Festival Pucciniano and Unione Corale Senese. I won the audience prize at the II Composition Competion of the Liepzig Oper in 2021 with my piece "Truth and Fiction". I also partecipated with a composition of mine to the international event "The Walk" in Florence (15/09/21).

Alberto Schiavo started composing when he was eleven as a self-taught person and held his first public concert in the late 90's.

His compositions include orchestral, vocal and chamber music works and have been performed all over the world by many different orchestras, choirs and ensembles including the Tonkünstler-Orchesters Niederösterreich (Vienna), the Bath Philharmonia (UK), the Saint Ephraim Male Choir of Budapest, the Academic Male Voice Choir of Helsinki, the Estonian National Male Choir (RAM), Vancouver Chamber Choir, Quartetto Prometeo and Milano Saxophone Quartet as well as by soloists such as Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi, Nicolas Deletaille, Hélène Blesch and others.

His works have also been broadcasted by KlassikaRaadio (Estonia), Radio Bartok (Hungary), WNYU Radio (New York), Rai Radio 3 and RadiostART (Italy) in Europe and United States.

In 2013 he has been nominated composer in residence by the Estonian National Male Choir and has been invited to make a lecture about his work as a composer at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn.

In the same year he made his debut as a conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of the Tonkünstler-Orchesters Niederösterreich during the renowned Grafenegg Festival (Austria).

Prizes include:

• Queen Elisabeth International Grand Prize For Composition 2011 (Belgium - finalist)
• Paderewsky International Composition Competition 2011 (Poland - 2nd prize - no first awarded)
• Tim International Music Tournament 2012 (Paris - Diploma of Merit)
• First International Jean Sibelius Composition Competition (Finland - finalist)
• 2005 International Composition Prize Musici Mojanesi (1st prize)
• 2006 International Composition Prize Opera Prima (3rd prize)
• Premio Nazionale Delle Arti 2008 (Rome - 1st prize unanimously)
• GAM Composition Prize 2010 (Milan - Honorable mention)
• Premio AGIMUS 2010 (Rome)
• Pomeriggio Tra Le Muse 2010
• Premio Discografico Fondazione Masi 2018 
• Prize Giovanni Colombo Flores D’Arcais 2011 (Italy - 1st prize)
• Ink Still Wet 2013 (Austria)
• Sound Connections Competition for Composers 2013/14 (Bath - UK - finalist)

Alberto Schiavo studied composition with Giovanni Bonato at the Conservatory of Padua (graduated cum laude and special mention) and with Salvatore Sciarrino at the Chigiana Academy in Siena. He studied also clarinet with Ezio Gavasso at the Conservatory of Vicenza (graduated full marks) and musicology with Anna Laura Bellina (graduated cum laude from the Padua University).

He is professor at the Conservatory “A. Pedrollo” in Vicenza (Italy).

Composer and pianist Alessandro Appignani was born in 1976. As a very young child he began to study piano, composition and cello with M.Fumo, H.Graf, L.Berman, and often moved around Europe, coming into contact with the avant- garde music of the 20th century. This stimulating intellectual background was nourished by visiting the leading European cultural centres. In 1995 he met M°Giulini to talk about the music of the 19th century and in particular about Robert Schumann. Appignani's works develop a unique and personal poetry. Mathematics, philosophy and mysticism are ingredients recurring in his music. Appignani is interested in a wide variety of musical forms. Appignani collaborates with musicians which W. E.Schmidt, E.H.Ringstad, A.Vella, R.Doni, D.Rossi, Y.Kanamaru, quartetto d'archi di Torino, P.Carlini, S.Zampetti, A.Deljavan, D.Cammarano, Accademia dell’Annunciata etc... He has recorded some of his works for Brilliant Classics, Centaur Records.

Described as an unicum in the compositional landscape of our times (Il Corriere Musicale) Alessio Elia has gained international recognition thanks to his Polysystemism, the simultaneous use of different tuning systems, discussed in many conferences and lectures, among them the one at "Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine" of the Cité de la Musique in Paris. Articles and essays on Polysystemism have been published by von Bockel Verlag, l'Université de Strasbourg, the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the University of Prague, as well as the subject of a master thesis degree at the Academy of Music of the Italian Switzerland in Lugano.

Elia received commissions most importantly from I Solisti del Teatro alla Scala di Milano (Octet), piece released in CD by Warner Classics in 2018, under the baton of Andrea Vitello; Radio Bartók (orchestral piece Trasparenze); Alter Ego ensemble (Altered memories) for a project including commissions to Eötvös, Hosokawa, Ablinger, L. Ligeti and Howard Skempton; Impronta ensemble conducted by Andreas Luca Beraldo and Oggimusica Festival in Lugano (Traces from Nowhere); UMZE - the historical ensemble founded by Bartók (Ekpyrotic Suicide); Wiener Collage (Outskirts of matter); Antal Dorati Conducting Competition (Distimement for large orchestra) as a complusory piece for the final round of the conducting contest; Stuttgart Kammerchor and Frieder Bernius (Incantesimi di Merseburg).

His music has been performed in significant concert halls and festivals worldwide (Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome; Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy in Budapest; Menuhin Festival in Oslo; Festival Erkel-Mahler in Budapest; Accademia Filarmonica Romana; BMC - Budapest Music Center; Bartók Hall of Palace of Arts – The National Auditorium in Budapest; Levinsalen and Lindemansalen in Oslo; Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna; Kongresshaus Stadthalle Heidelberg; Mannheimer Kunstverein; LAC - Lugano Arte e Cultura Auditorium; National Hungarian Radio Studios; Forum Neue Musik - Palais Prinz Carl in Heidelberg; Auditorium del Parco by Renzo Piano in L'Aquila; Oggimusica Festival in Lugano; Contemporary Arts Festival Budapest; Yamaha Concert Hall Wien, etc.).

Ten portrait concerts of his music have been organized in Budapest, Oslo, Mannheim and Rome.

On May 28, 2023, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of György Ligeti, Elia's book The "Hamburgisches Konzert" by György Ligeti has been released, the most exhaustive and complete analysis on this work.

Published by Edition Impronta, the book includes the complete revision of the score and the correction of the numerous errors (over 300) present in the printed score, including instrumental parts, and in the manuscript.

Two unpublished movements of the Concerto, found by Alessio Elia at the Sacher Foundation (Ligeti Collection), together with all the preparatory sketches are published for the first time in the book.

Since 2024 he is visiting professor in composition at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim.

In December 2024, Brilliant Classics released a monographic CD featuring his orchestral and vocal works.

STUDIES

Trained internationally he studied composition in Italy, Hungary and Germany, graduating at the S. Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome under the guidance of Giovanni Piazza. He completed postgraduate courses in Italy at the National Academy of Music S. Cecilia in Rome and at the Chigiana Academy of Music in Siena, and abroad at the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt with Brian Ferneyhough, Toshio Hosokawa, and Georg Friedrich Haas, as well as at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Zoltán Jeney.

Consultations with Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen also had a significant role in the process of his professional development.

He obtained the post-master’s degree in Composition at the Hochschule für Musik Mannheim, studying with Sidney Corbett, a former student of György Ligeti.

Elia earned his PhD cum laude at the University of Rome Tor Vergata with a dissertation about the Hamburgisches Konzert by Ligeti (first comprehensive monograph on this topic).

Pianist, conductor, composer, organist. He conducted concerts and concert-lessons, whether as soloist or in ensembles.Along with the concerts activity, he dealt with a dedicated composition activity in different fields, like the arrangement, the original composition, the pedagogy, pop music. Many of his works are performed in various cities. As conductor he worked with ICO Orchestra of Bari, Orchestra Lucana, Orchestra of Magna Grecia, South Symphonic Band, Aura Sonum Philharmonia Orchestra and other ensembles and as choir conductor.

Andrea Ferrante (born 16 August 1968, Palermo, Italy) is an Italian composer whose music is performed throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas and published by Videoradio and Rai Trade Labels, Edizioni Carrara and Edizioni Simeoli. He teaches at the Conservatorio di Musica di Stato "A. Scontrino" in Trapani.

Andreas Gies was born in Italy as the son of Italian and German parents and was raised in Northern Italy where he studied, at the conservatories of Castelfranco V., Venice and Milan, Flute, Piano, Composition, Singing and Conducting with many important Maestros such as: Raffaella Chiarini, Fabio Grasso, Michael Summers, Mauro Bonifacio, Azio Corghi, Marco Tutino, Vittorio Parisi.

After a bachelor and two master degrees he attended various masterclasses and academies under the guidance of M. Beltrami, F. Lanzillotta, D. Renzetti, J. Amigo, P. Bellugi, Luciano Acocella, D. Gatti (Accademia Chigiana di Siena). 

He was assistant conductor of E. Calesso, G. Rath, R. Abbado, PG. Morandi, R. Palumbo, V. Petrenko in both symphonic and operatic repertoire in the Theaters of La Fenice di Venezia, Mainfranken di Würzburg, Olimpico di Vicenza, Comunale di Bologna, Municipale di Piacenza, Kungliga Operan Stockholm, Regio di Torino, Opéra de Nice.

In 2019 he won the prestigious prize “Premio Nazionale delle arti” by the Italian Government (in jury: G. Neuhold, M. Guidarini, A. Allemandi, V. DeVivo, R. Jais) conducting “La Verdi” orchestra of Milan. 

He made his debut in 2016 conducting Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. Past conducting engagements include world premiere of Caffè Bach at the Pergolesi Theatre in Jesi, Don Giovanni in Milan (Teatro Carcano), Andrea Chenier (Opéra de Nice, conducting the entire dress rehearsal as assistant of M° G. Rath), Tosca (Teatro Coccia di Novara), a concert at the italian Embassy in Sofia.

As a composer he specialized at the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna, won the 1st GC. Menotti competition at the Spoleto Festival in 2013 with a Symphonic piece premiered in USA, the XXX Moncalieri competition with a piece for Orchestra and Chorus and the II prize at the competition “I Pomeriggi Musicali” Orchestra in Milan with a Suite on Leonardo da Vinci which has been premiered in July 2020 in Milan (Teatro dal Verme) and Vittoriale D’annunzio in 6 performances conducted by G. Tackacs-Nagy. His own Ouverture for orchestra was premiered at the Venice Concert Hall under his guidance and will be further performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo.

His actual production counts pieces for chamber groups (Solo pieces, String quartet, mixed sextet), medium and big orchestra and 2 chamber operas.

He made also musicological studies with S. Caciagli, A. Polignano, U. Scarpetta leading to a huge editorial project on italian opera, producing critical editions for the first time of many works of half known composers such as P. Mascagni, R. Leoncavallo, U. Giordano, F. Cilea, G. Paisiello, L. Cherubini and others in collaborations with the musicologist C. Orselli.

Further infos about this project will be given soon!

I have a Master of Arts in Piano, in Wind Ensemble Orchestration, in Composition, and a 1st Level Specializing Master in “Music for Video Games” from four different conservatories in Italy.

I write music for soloists, chamber ensembles, small and large orchestras, and wind orchestras; I compose electronic and electroacoustic music. I also work as an arranger.

I began my career in 2017 writing concert music. From 2020 I started composing music for visual media. In 2021 I founded "Valse Naive Studio" where I work as a composer, author, and video maker, creating both artistic and commercial short films.

My music has been performed in Italy, France, Cyprus, U.S.A., China, and Austria.

Antonio Cocomazzi received a degree in Piano & Composition from Conservatories of Foggia and Pescara (Italy). He’s the winner of thirteen international and national competitions thanks to the performances of his compositions also obtaining six second prizes and other important awards.

As a composer/pianist he recorded ten CDs to his name. Illustrious artists signed the liner notes to his albums including Ennio Morricone (Antonio Cocomazzi Project, 2008) Giorgio Gaslini (Suite for friends, 1997), and Giovanni Sollima (Restart, 2018).

He recorded the album “Restart” in Duo with saxophonist Mario Marzi and with various formations “Nonostante tutto” (2005), both original composition projects are dedicated to saxophone. “Pensieri” is an album for piano and string quartet (2008), it was published by RAI Com and it’s currently used as a soundtrack of RAI documentaries and docufilms. “Notturno” (2021) is the first album where he plays as a solo pianist and it is an anthology of 17 own compositions recorded with other formations and reinterpreted at the piano. Recently released (2022), is the CD "Requiem" version for soli, choir and organ (2021), composed in honor and in memory of Padre Pio, whose original version (1998-1999) is for soloists, choir and orchestra.

He is the author of almost 300 works, performed in Italy and abroad, ranging from chamber to orchestral music and from solo piano to compositions for choir and orchestra. In addition to the mentioned “Requiem” (1999) in the original version for soli, choir and orchestra, the Opera “Ramleela” (2014), which was performed in New Delhi (India) in 2014 in a fusion project between opera and music, dance and Indian theater and the Kinderoper “Piccoletto, ovvero la Storia del piccolo spazzacamino” (2008) for soli and orchestra have particular importance.

His multifaceted sonorous world is fully expressed in live performances, as a soloist, and in various chamber ensembles, and it is characterized by a natural merger of classical, jazz, and ethnical sounds that evolve into a personal language. It is also open to improvisation and contamination.

As composer and/or arranger he has written music for the Theatre, Musicals and musical productions ranging from classical to pop.

He is currently a professor of Harmony and Analysis at the Conservatory “S. Pietro a Majella” in Napoli, Italy.

Graduated in piano at the Benevento Conservatory of Music (110 with honors). He is a pupil of Maestro Pasquale Iannone, with whom he attended the two-year advanced training course at the Pescarese Music Academy. Graduated in Composition V.O. (10/10) at the Salerno Conservatory, in Band Instrumentation V.O. at the Frosinone Conservatory under the guidance of M° Maurizio Billi and in Choral music and choir direction V.O. at the Salerno Conservatory. He has attended various piano and composition masterclasses with maestros Pasquale Iannone, Bruno Canino, Michele Marvulli, Stefano Bollani, Alessandro Solbiati, Helmut Lachenmann, Denis Dufour. He is currently professor at the Avellino Conservatory of Music. Since 2020 he has been collaborating with the Benevento Conservatory as an accompanist pianist in instrument and singing classes, having been found to be suitable for the selection procedure. He is active on the musical artistic panorama with piano concerts in Italy and abroad such as Naples, Milan, Rome, Turin, Palermo and abroad, such as Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Nice, Montpellier, Versailles in which he performs classic pieces and his original compositions/revisitations.

In July 2014 he was one of the 3 composers chosen to participate in the 2014 edition of the Social World Film Festival, composing the soundtrack of the short film "The Social Network", declared winner of the Festival competition.Also in July 2014 he was one of the 30 pianists chosen to participate in the Sustainable Piano Festival of Pratovecchio (AR), where he shares the stage with Stefano Bollani, Gloria Campaner, Danilo Rea and other artists of the Italian piano scene.

In November 2014 he won the "International composer & arranger of the year" award at the prestigious Los Angeles Music Awards, where he competed with David Osborne, the pianist of the White House. In Los Angeles he also performed with Roberto Cani, first violin of the LA Opera, during the event "25 years of Cinema Paradiso" held at the Italian Cultural Institute in front of the director Giuseppe Tornatore himself and other personalities of Italian and international cinema.

In December 2014 he participated with Mina, Stefano Bollani, Danilo Rea, Simona Molinari and other artists in the creation of a CD tribute to Lelio Luttazzi published with the well-known monthly MusicaJazz, composing a jazz arrangement of the song "Ritorno a Trieste" by Luttazzi.

In 2016 with the piano composition "Turoccia" he won the 1st absolute prize at the American Protege International Music Talent Competition. On November 27, 2016 he performed a piano recital in the prestigious CarnegieHall in New York. He is the only Italian winner of this competition.

In 2019, 2021 and 2022 he worked on the television series "Mare Fuori" broadcast on Rai2 as a special figuration of "handman" and supervisor of the musical scenes. In 2022 he works as head of the music of the musical scenes and special figuration as pianist of the television series Commissario Ricciardi broadcast on Rai1.

In 2019 he forms the piano duo "The NiNels" with the pianist Valentina Branco, which boasts a repertoire ranging from tangos to Brazilian, Neapolitan, rock and popular music. The original arrangements are by A. Roccia. The duo is part of the “Candlelight” roster of artists in Italy on behalf of the Fever company, on behalf of which they also work as an arranger. They perform in Italy and abroad.

He was piano collaborator for the realization of several operas: in September 2017 for I due Timidi and The night of a neurasthenic (Nino Rota) in collaboration with the Rome Opera Theater Foundation and the National Academy of Santa Cecilia, conducted by Mo Gabriele Bonolis and directed by Cesare Scarton at the Teatro Vespasiano in Rieti during the ReateFestival; in December 2015 for La traviata (Verdi) with the singers and part of the Orchestra of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples at the Teatro S. Aniello Castel Volturno; in March/May/November 2017 for Madame Butterfly (Puccini), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini) and Rigoletto (Verdi) (in the form of a solo concert at the piano) at the U.Giordano Theater in Foggia and the Garibaldi Theater in Lucera; in July 2016 for Barber of Seville at the Greek Theater of Ischia; In 2015, together with the violinist Vincenzo Iovino, he formed the Duo Respighi under the guidance of the masters Gabriele Bonolis, Giulio Rovighi, Carlo Rocchino and Francesco D'Ovidio.

Basilio Merlino graduated at National Music Conservatory in Palermo, he completed his studies at National Music Conservatory of Poitiers and at the Superior Music Conservatory of Dance and Music (CESMD) of Poitou-Charentes. He has recently performed at festivals in different countries, including the “Art’s week festival of Shenzen” (2013 - China), the “Saxophone en mouvement festival” of Poitiers (2014 - France), the “17th world saxophone congress of Strasbourg” (2015 - France), the “18th World saxophone congress”. In 2018, he performed in Zagreb (Croatia) and in Paris (Musée d’Orsay and Musée Bourdelle) and more.

Bruno Coli worked with the best Italian theatre companies, composing incidental music for the most relevant figures in the theatre scene. He was co-author with Morricone of the soundtrack for the movie Nana. In the last 20 years he composed musicals and operas too. Esopo Opera Rock musical for children performed for 12 years since 1999.The Tell-Tale Heart (upon E.A.Poe) performed 2004 at the Opera House in Rovigo. Le Gentilhomme Ivre for Opera de Nice performed at the Chagall Museum in Nice. Mitico musical for children performed in Genoa Opera House. incidental music for The Impostor by Goldoni and The White Sheik upon Fellini’s movie for Teatr Nowy Poznan and La Trilogia della villeggiatura by Goldoni for the Theater of Potsdam. Oz on the Road opera for children for Opera Theatre Genoa The Angel of the Odd opera upon E.A.Poe's tale, in repertoire of the Teatr Wielki, Poznan since June 2014. Both operas upon Poe's tale took part in 2016 of Budapest Armel Opera Festival .

After the Piano Diploma, the Musicology Degree, and the studies of Chamber Music in Vienna, he devoted himself to a deep concert activity while studying Music Education and Composition.

In the main Italian and European towns and cities he gained success among public and critics. In 2013 after the Lyme disease diagnosis he has abruptly interrupted his concert activity, giving up a tournée in China and in Europe. During the years in which he has looked for an appropriate therapy, he has found in composing a way to express his musicality.

His music has soon gained success and it is played all around the world, many of his compositions are collected in discographic projects.

His pieces have been executed in Europe and China many times by famous artists, such as Luisa Sello, LE AGANE, Donatello Ensemble, Mac Saxophone Quartet, H. Fister. In 2020 his album for piano solo Dreamer’s Landscape won the silver medal at Global Music Awards in California. 

He is professor of piano at Music high school in Udine.

Through my music I'm committing to raise public awareness on this disease and the pathologies correlated to it, in order for research and diagnostics to move forward and help many friends of mine who have been too sick to have a life. 

About Me

Cesare Gallo was born in Milan in 1959. He began his musical studies at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi”: Piano (Professor Maria Luisa Faggi) and composition (M°Alberto Soresina).

Subsequently, he graduated in Band Instrumentation M° Ugo Turriani and Composition M° Angelo Bellisario. He does Postgraduate studies in composition with Salvatore Sciarrino Summer Courses of Città di Castello (1984, 1985, ’88 and 1990) and with Franco Donatoni 1990-1993 Accademia Musicale Superiore di Biella. In 1994, he participated in some courses on contemporary music at the Scuola Civica in Milan and Darmstadt Ferienkurse.

In 1998, he graduated in Electronic Music under the direction of Riccardo Sinigaglia.

A piece for flute and guitar in 1996 was a finalist at the 1st National Festival of Contemporary Music organized by the Municipality of Udine and Edizioni Musicali Taukay.

In 2006, the piano piece “… Ricercare …” was awarded (3rd prize ex aequo) in the Competition of the Val Tidone composition, and in 2013 the same composition was reported to The London Ear Festival Composers’ Competition .

He is present in the Italian Encyclopedia of Contemporary Composers (Pagano Publisher Napoli 1999/2000) and the Data Bank of Composers Italian dell’Amic / Cidim of Rome.

His works are published by Taukay Edition and Map Publishing. 

From 1978 Cesare Gallo has stood out for his activities as a teacher and music educator in various Public Schools of Milan.

Christian Baldini is a conductor and composer. Praised by the international press as a conductor with "a keen ear for detail" (The Scotsman) who brings "a symphonic revival" (Buenos Aires Herald), Baldini has conducted the Munich Radio Orchestra, North Netherlands Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphonies of Portugal and Argentina, Northwest German Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra, Orquesta de Cámara de Chile and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He has conducted opera for English National Opera, Aldeburgh Festival, and overseen yearly collaborations with the San Francisco Opera (Mondavi Center Rising Stars of Opera, of which he is artistic director), and for the Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires, where he is a frequent guest conductor for opera and concerts. Baldini has collaborated with numerous composers of our time and premiered over 100 works. He was formerly assistant conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. His album conducting the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for Linn Records (Mozart: Arias and Overtures) was chosen as Recording of the Month by the BBC Music Magazine and MusicWeb International. His newest album, featuring works by Ligeti, Varèse, Lutosławski and Baldini was just released on Centaur Records (August 2021), and is already garnering excellent reviews: "all four recordings on the album are genuine, top-class live performances, that is to say, actual, unedited one-shot takes. [..] the top-class performances are awash with invigorating energy and fine-tuned sensitivity, resulting in a wonderfully balanced survey of rhythm, texture and colour." [...] "The disc opens with Baldini’s Elapsing Twilight Shades, an absorbing orchestral tableau of thrilling transformations, inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1841 poem Excelsior. In the course of the seven-minute score, musical objects are rotated and permuted into various guises, generating some brilliantly surprising, almost cubist sonic events. The orchestral textures are unraveled with fascinating trajectories, full of bewitching instrumental combinations." (Jari Kallio, Adventures in Music)

Claudio Boetti (b.1956 Milan), began his musical journey as guitarist, forming a pop band and performing songs of their own composition.

At the same time, he began theoretical studies and classical guitar deepening technique of this tool.

He formed a guitar trio by researching original music and writing his own first composition for this chamber group.

Subsequently, he began his composition studies at the "Civico Istituto Musicale G. Puccini", first under the guidance of M° Giuseppe Azzarelli and then with M° Gabriele Bazzi Bernieri.

He has also participating in a Masterclass of orchestration and composition for orchestra organized by Maestro Gabriele Bazzi Bernieri.

He collaborated with the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan by orchestrating some excerpts from the musical fables "La nonna di Mozart" and "La Tartarughina", performed at the Milan Auditorium.

The second fable, arranged for chamber orchestra, was also performed at the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Pioltello.

Also for the Municipality of Pioltello, he has collaborated in various musical events with music by composition by him or with his arrangements:

• "Oltre la collina" for two voices, string quartet and piano;
• "Immagine di tramonto" for voice, cello and piano;
• "A foggy day" by G. Gershwin arrangement for clarinet and piano.

In 2022 he was awarded the third prize in the international composition competition "Carlo Sanvitale".

Born in Rome in 1974, Bravi started studying composition at the Conservatorio "S.Cecilia" in Rome where he achieved his diploma cum laude, also winning the Marcello Intendente prize for the best diploma of the academic year. He then studied for three years at the Conservatoire National in Strasbourg under the guidance of Ivan Fedele and later with Salvatore Sciarrino, Pascal Dusapin, Wolfgang Rihm and Helmut Lachenmann. From 2006 until 2008 he studied composition and electronic music at IRCAM in Paris.

Since 2007 he is professor of composition in Italy. Currently he is Chair Professor of composition at Conservatory of Music "Ottorino Respighi" - Italy.

Bravi has been invited to give lectures at the Sibelius Academy, Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, Conservatoire de Musique (Geneve) and Conservatoire de Strasbourg.

His first monographic CD “Del Vero e Del Falso” (2013-Stradivarius - Times Future Series) has been recorded by Arditti Quartet, Donatienne Michelle-Dansac, Algoritmo Ensemble, Ensemble Vide, Roberta Gottardi, Matteo Cesari, Keiko Murakami, Anna D’Errico, Marco Rogliano, Béatrice Zawodnick and Marco Angius.

His music is published by Universal Edition.

Composer and pianist Daniele Ciminiello was born in Lecce, Italy, in 1991. He ran into music by chance when he was 11, and one year later he started to study piano with Roberta Epifani and composition with Fabrizio Piccinno. He continued his studies at the “Tito Schipa” Conservatory in Lecce, where he graduated in piano in 2010 and in composition in 2014 with Giuseppe Gigante.

In 2011, he was awarded the Licentiate of Royal Schools of Music in Music Performance – Piano by The Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music – London.

In 2015, he began his post-graduate studies at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he studied with Ivan Fedele until 2018. He also attended masterclasses with Federico Gardella, Stefano Gervasoni, and Salvatore Sciarrino.

In 2019, he obtained a Master of Music in Film Scoring at E-Campus University in Lecce, where he studied with Francesco De Donatis, who appointed him assistant professor until 2019.

He was professor of music theory and piano at Harmonium High School of Music in Lecce from 2015 until June 2019.

Then, in 2020, he moved to Saudi Arabia, where he is currently a piano, composition, and music theory teacher at the Saudi Music Hub in Riyadh.

His works achieved important recognitions all over the world.

In February 2025 he won the Symphony San Sebastián Concours, organized by County Hall Arts, London.

His Fantasia N. 2 for Symphony Orchestra has been premiered in the S. Lyudkevych Concert Hall on February 2, 2024, by the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Volodymyr Syvokhip.

His Fantasia N. 1 for Symphony Orchestra has been premiered on June 1, 2021, by the National Symphony Orchestra "Sergei Lunchevici" of the Republic of Moldova, conducted by Mihail Aghafita in the XXX Edition of the "New Music Days" International Festival, and later included in the album Chisinau 2, released by Phasma Music in 2022.

Since 2019, he has had long term collaboration with the famous Polish flutist Iwona Glinka, who performed and recorded several of his works with the label Phasma Music: Click for solo flute, album Two Minutes, Phasma Music, 2019, winner of “Global Music Award - Outstanding Achievement - Silver Medal” in the two categories contemporary classical and album; Gymnopédie for flute and string trio, album Teth, Phasma Music, 2021; A un altro me stesso for solo flute, album Yodh, Phasma Music, 2021; Lament for Theodore for solo flute, album Lament for Theodore Antoniou Vol. 1, Phasma Music, 2021, winner of Akdemia Music Awards - Music Award of Excellence.

His work Le Forme del Fuoco has been premiered by the Duo Carrozzo – Fasiello at Usmar Ismail Hall in Jakarta on September 25th 2019 and later included in the album In Focus 6, released in October 2021 by RMN Classical, a label based in London.

His Trio for violin, violoncello and piano was premiered at Parco della Musica in Roma in 2017 and was later included in the album Contemporary Chamber Music released by RMN Classical in 2019.

On May 12, 2021, he released his first solo album for piano, Message in a Bottle, which includes 10 original compositions.

Since 2023, the music scores of hi s compositions have been published by Universal Edition.

Davide Remigio (Melbourne, 26th June 1963) is an australian and Italian composer, founder of the Quaternary Music. He graduated in Composition (MMus) in 1992 at the National Academy of S. Cecilia in Rome with Franco Donatoni and Music for Film (1991) with Ennio Morricone in Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. In 1989 was awarded the Silone Price Music for the composition Homage to Silone for narrator and orchestra and in 1993 the Gaudeamus Foundation of Amsterdam rewarded Mordenti for ensemble which was performered on the radio. In 1997 he conceives the Quaternary Music a composition technique with only four notes. In 2002 he participated in the Ateliers del Forum at IRCAM in Paris with electronic works. In 2012 he gave a lecture on the quaternary music at the Vernadsky National Library of Kiev and in 2017 he is invited to hold a workshop in quaternary music composition at the Irvine University (California). His compositions have been performed at the National Academy of S. Cecilia and Ravello Festival in Italy, at the Dutch and Belgrade radio, the Australian Foundation and the British Asian Music Society of Victoria in Melbourne, Di Menna center, Symphonic Space and National Opera Center in New York City. Professor of Composition in Milan Conservatory "G. Verdi", he publishes with Australian Autumn Music in Melbourne, Edipan in Rome, Casa Musicale Sonzogno and Casa Ricordi in Milan, and Universal Edition in Wien.

Musician and composer, he was born in Piacenza, where he attended the Nicolini Conservatory, studying composition first with Carlo Alessandro Landini and subsequently with Barbara Rettagliati. He further completed his education through masterclasses and advanced courses held by some of today’s most important composers, including Giorgio Colombo Taccani, Stefano Gervasoni, Oscar Strasnoy, Michael Jarrell, and Ivan Fedele.

He made his debut as a composer in 2019, when his pieces Vier frühe Lieder and Hölderlin-Lieder premiered in Piacenza and subsequently performed in Parma (May 2019), Milan (September 2019), and once again in his hometown (April 2021). His Sonata No. 1 for piano “Verklärung” (2019/2020) received numerous awards, including the International Composition Competition “Città di Albenga” and was honored with the second award at the Premio Alberghini. Included in an installation for the Piacenza Musica Festival 2021, the Sonata was also presented on a European tour across Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Spain.

In 2023, he entered the symphonic scene, first composing Schatten for the Symphony Orchestra of the Nicolini Conservatory and subsequently winning the Second Prize at the XXIX edition of the 2 Agosto International Composition Competition, one of the most prestigious in Europe. His piece Broken Streams for large symphony orchestra had its world premiere broadcast live on RAI5 with the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, conducted by Jaume Santonja.

In 2024, he made his overseas debut with Sonetto Morto: originally composed for the commemoration of Sylvano Bussotti (2021), thanks to the support of NoMus, Fondazione Piseri, and Società del Quartetto di Milano, the piece was subsequently performed at UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland.

Since 2022, he has collaborated with the Fondazione dei Teatri di Piacenza for the MusicMediale Festival, earning a commission for a new opera, Mother, as the central event of the MusicMediale Festival 2024. Performed at the Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, the opera was met with great success from both the public and critics.

Always attentive to musical dissemination, he has given cycles of lectures, among others, at the Wagner Society of Manchester (The Influence of Wagner’s Philosophy on the Conception of Contemporary Opera: An Aesthetic Reflection, 2023), and at the Galleria Biffi Arte in Piacenza (OperaOggi, 2024).

He has collaborated with conductors and soloists such as Paola Poncet, Jaume Santonja, Pasquale Corrado, Caterina Meldolesi, Costantino Catena, and with prestigious institutions, including the Fondazione dei Teatri di Piacenza, the Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna, The Wagner Society, Fondazione Piseri, Festival PianoSofia, Festival MusicMediale, San Vito Musica Contemporanea, Festival Piacenza Classica, Accademia d’Archi Arrigoni, Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano, Bibiena Art Festival, Gruppo Strumentale Ciampi, NoMus, and Società del Quartetto di Milano.

He studied orchestral conducting with Ennio Nicotra. 

Winner of the Bruno Bettinelli Composition Prize, his works are published by Universal Edition in Vienna.

Born in 1984, studied cello, pedagogy and composition at the Cherubini Conservatory of Music in Florence. He attended courses with distinguished cellists such as Natalia Gutman, Franco Maggio Ormezowski, Miloš Mlejnik, Gary Hoffman and David Geringas, with the Quartetto di Fiesole for chamber music and Piero Bellugi for conducting. He played with many orchestras, among others the Cherubini Youth Orchestra, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Cameristi of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the baton of Muti, De Billy, Campanella, Zukerman, Axelrod. He's very active as a chamber musician in groups ranging from duo with piano (First prize and special prize at the Alessandria Competition in 2007) to string octet. He works as a composer and he's the author of the book "The Cello – Technique and psychology of playing", published by Zecchini. He's cello professor at the Beato Angelico Institute in Florence and he plays as a soloist with a broad repertoire from baroque to contemporary.

Degree in Musicology University of Pavia Italy Degree in Composition Conservatoire of Como Italy Degree in Composition Conservatoire of Milan Italy Degree in Astrophysics and Cosmology University of Bologna Italy Music recorded at Taukay Italy and Parmarecordings USA Book "La melodia interiore" published at Armando editore Rome Italy

Born in Cagliari (Sardinia - Italy), Fabrizio Marchionni completed his musical studies at the Music Conservatoire “G.P. da Palestrina”, graduating brilliantly in Organ (1997), Piano (1998), Composition (2000) and Harpsichord (2001). In 2001 he also obtained the Advanced Training Diploma in Composition at the Music Academy of Pescara. A multi-awarded artist, he has participated as an interpreter and composer in numerous national and international festivals and competitions. As an organist, pianist, and harpsichordist, he has recorded and held concerts all over Europe, invited by prestigious musical and cultural associations; his repertoire ranges from ancient to contemporary music, from jazz to folk music. He is the titular teacher of Teoria, Ritmica e Percezione Musicale (Music Theory) at the "G. P. da Palestrina” of Cagliari - Sardinia - Italy.

Federico Di Santo was born in L’Aquila (Italy) in 1984, where he completed his musical studies as a violinist and then studied music composition at the “A. Casella” Conservatoire in L’Aquila with Mauro Cardi, one of the most active Italian composers. At the same time, he completed his education, graduating in Classical Literature at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, and then obtained a PhD in Comparative Literature. He worked for three years as a researcher in Italian Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin and published several scholarly articles and two monographs on literature and musicology. Currently, his main interest is music composition. After having obtained his bachelor's degree (score 100/100) in composition, he is currently concluding his studies at the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatoire in Rome. His orchestral piece entitled Stylistic Metamorphoses (his 4th original composition) has recently won two awards in London (the Mullord Award of the Alvarez Chamber Orchestra) and Vienna.

Flo Menezes (São Paulo, 1962) is considered one of the leading composers of his generation. With a solid work in several genres – orchestral music, opera, chamber music, mixed electroacoustic music, acousmatic music, works for choir, solo instruments with or without interaction with electronics in real time and deferred time –, he is the holder of several international awards: TRIMALCA (1993), Ars Electronica (1995), Luigi Russolo (1996), Sérgio Motta Prize (2002), Bolsa Vitae (2003), Diapason d'Or (2006), Giga-Hertz-Preis (2007; this one with P. Boulez, W. Rihm and H. Vaggione in the International Jury), etc.

His work has been premiered at Carnegie Hall in NY and in important theaters around the world, and his music has been performed at international festivals and by renowned ensembles and orchestras: Ensemble Recherche, Ictus, New Century Players, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, SWR Vokalensemble and Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Arditti String Quartett, Contrechamps, Contemporary Chamber Players NY, Plural Ensemble Madrid, Sond'Ar-Te Electric Ensemble Lisbon, London Sinfonietta, PIAP (São Paulo), Collegium Novum Zürich, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, NYNME (New York New Music Ensemble), Camerata Aberta, OSESP, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich etc.

Since 1983 (at the age of 21), Flo Menezes has defined his music as maximalist, even before the New Complexity fad came to the fore. His music is built on a 5-Pointed-Star by which the composer defines 5 fundamental elements of composition: materials, variations, directionalities, connections and craftsmanship.

Since the 1980s, he has been developing techniques of musical writing with which he has been working: cyclic modules, proportional projections, pronunciation-form, rhythmic rotations, durative writing, etc.

As a theorist, he is the author of about 20 books, published in Brazil and Europe, such as the internationally awarded book on the work of L. Berio in 1990. He was a composition student of Willy Corrêa de Oliveira (1980-85) at the University of São Paulo (USP) and of Hans Humpert at the Studio für elektronische Musik in Cologne (1986-90), Germany, and took courses with Boulez (1988), Berio (1989), Pousseur (supervisor of his PhD in 1987-92), Ferneyhough (1995) and Stockhausen (1998), of whom he became teaching assistant at the Stockhausen Kurse in Kürten in 1999 and 2001.

He is Full Professor of Electroacoustic Music, founder and director of the main studio of the genre in Latin America: the Studio PANaroma, of Unesp (State University of São Paulo).

There are several entries about the composer in important encyclopedias, as those two below:

1) Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik

Article by Ralph Paland: Personenartikel "Menezes, Flo", in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik, 2., neubearbeitete Auflage, Hg. Ludwig Finscher, Supplement, Bärenreiter/Metzler, Kassel/Stuttgart, 2008, pp. 546-547. ISBN (Supplement): 978-3-7618-1139-9.

2) "Flo Menezes"

Long analytical essay (in German) on the composer and his works (26 pages) by Ralph Paland, in: KdG – Komponisten der Gegenwart, edition text + kritik im Richard Boorberg Verlag, Lieferung vom Juni 2014:

http://www.nachschlage.NET/document/17000000906

Website: www.flomenezes.mus.br

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtmMj33DT6JvUGpNdvQ0zfg

Born in Sassari in 1997, he approaches the study of the piano at the age of eight. Later he enrolled in the L. Canepa Conservatory of Sassari and, under the guidance of M° Roberto Piana, he graduated with full marks. From the age of 14 he participated, for three consecutive years, in the masterclass held by M° Aldo Ciccolini, at the Bosa Antica International Festival, always obtaining an excellent response. During this formative experience he has the opportunity to deepen both the interpretative aspects and those of a technical nature through the analytical study of the "Dinamica pianistica" by A. Brugnoli. He currently studies with M° Genny Basso, assistant to M° Aldo Ciccolini in his last years of life, and his training continues through masterclasses and advanced courses including those recently held by M° Maurizio Baglini and M° Rodolfo Ponce Montero. On the occasion of the 263rd anniversary of the birth of W. A. ​​Mozart he performed with the “J. N. Wendt” orchestra, directed by Mº Raimondo Mameli, the concerto for piano and orchestra K466. He performs as a concert pianist in various cities of Italy and moreover, from the age of 12, he dedicates himself to composition which he currently studies with the composer M° Giuseppe D'Amico

Francesco Fortunato, pianist, composer and conductor, graduated in Piano and Composition with honors, and brilliantly in Orchestral Conducting. He attended several advanced courses and master classes with professors such as Leonardo Suarez Paz (chamber music), Anatoly Levin (conductor), Andrea Talmelli (composition) and others. Winner of national and international music competitions, he won the third prize at the “Egidio Carella” International Composition Competition (Val Tidone International Music Competition 2018), the fourth prize at the “MaestroVision Awards” International Composition Competition (Beijing, China) and the first Prize at the “Alessandro Longo” International Piano Competition, Giardini Naxos (ME). He has held piano recitals, concerts as conductor, composer of songs performed by renowned musicians and soundtracks for films and short films, climbing on the stage of numerous theaters and concert halls. His artistic activity also includes the production of six albums with original works for piano and orchestra (for the musical editions GRecords, MAP Edition and Milleville Music) and the publishing of various works for solo instrument, chamber ensembles and symphonic orchestra (for the editions Momenti, MAP Edition, Agenda, Pizzicato Verlag Haelvetia and Universal Edition). Since 2021 he has collaborated with the Calabrian Philharmonic Orchestra for which he has transcribed several works for concert performances (with various performers including Silvia Mezzanotte, Arisa, Valerio Scanu, Riccardo Fogli) and television (Rai1). Currently he is professor of Theory of Harmony and Analysis at the "Francesco Cilea" state conservatory in Reggio Calabria (RC).

Gabriele Saro is an award-winning artist and composer, always motivated by two different attitudes: a rational scientific side, an artistic and creative side.

He has a scientific high school diploma and a Degree in Business Administration, a Diploma in Violin and a Master in Music in Composition for Film: different paths, but Gabriele manages to combine them perfectly.

These are just some of Gabriele's interests, those that influenced his artistic career: anthropology, biology and science fiction ... but the most important activity that distinguishes his days is undoubtedly music and composition.

He is a composer awarded in national and international composition competitions, both for serious music and for pop music (among many, winner of the UK Songwriting Contest and TOP 10 in 2 editions at the USA Songwriting Competition - more than 60 prizes, counting the semifinals , the most awarded young composer in Italy). As a Producer he was Nominated for the 2022 GRAMMY Nominations.

On the Digital Stores dozens of albums and compilations such as Gabriele Saro and Gabe Saro ranging from classical or new age music to electronic, from rock music to R&B.

Most of his music is broadcast on RADIO, TV, Commercials, Shows and Movies in the United States and abroad (many of his songs are programmed on more than 600.000 radios, on more than 700.000 commercial locations, 250 Countries and Territories, 5 continents, with billions of passages around the world ; his video clips on 750 Show and MAJOR TV in the USA and in Italy on over 200 TVs); his Classical / New Age music has been widely awarded and spread internationally on hundreds of radios and over 200 TVs, as well as on airlines and medical centers; his choral and orchestral music, published by UNIVERSAL EDITION (WIEN), ALLIANCE MUSIC PUBLICATIONS (U.S.A.), EDITION ICOT (JAPAN), USCI FVG, FILOLOGICA FRIULANA and MUSICHE D' INCANTO (ITALY), has been performed and recorded in various concerts in Italy and abroad, and programmed on religious televisions, in Europe and North America: concerts with his music are regularly held in Italy, Poland, Spain, Norway, Austria, England , France, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Indonesia, Slovakia, Canada and the Philippines.

www.gabrielesaro.com

Born in Brescia (Italy) in 1987, Giacomo Gozzini was introduced to music at the age of 10. He graduated in Organ, Conducting and Choral Conducting at the Conservatory of Brescia and in Composition at the Conservatory of Parma, with honors, cum laude. As a composer he has won numerous competitions, in Italy and abroad. More recently, his latest composition received the Honourable mention in the “Classic Pure Vienna Competition” and the Diamond Prize in the Couperin International Music Competition. His music has been performed by various artists and musical groups. He has performed as an organist and conductor in numerous concerts and his activity as a teacher is equally active. In the 2022-2023 Academic Year he was professor of Harmony and Analysis at the Conservatory “Cilea” of Reggio Calabria.

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.

Born in Sicily in 1966 Giovanni D'Aquila begins to study music in school age, graduating in Piano and Composition. From 1995 works mainly as composer, writing liric, symphonic, chamber and stage music; his works are regularly performed in the most important concert seasons and commissioned by the most relevant musical institutions in Italy (Arena di Verona, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Teatro Politeama Bellini di Catania, Pomeriggi musicali di Milano, Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese, I solisti aquilani, Milano Classica, Taormina Arte, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, etc.) and abroad (Svizzera, Irlanda, Olanda, Polonia, Germania, Portogallo, Stati Uniti, Giappone, Finlandia, Francia, Macedonia, Russia, Slovenia, Estonia, Cina, etc.), broadcasted by RAI radiotre and Deutschland Radiokultur; he worked with musical editors like Rodaviva, Sonzogno, Kelidon. At now, Giovanni D'Aquila is professor of Composition at the “A. Scarlatti” Conservatory in Palermo.

Giovanni Pizzitola is an Italian composer and pianist, he was born in Alcamo on the 19th November, 1975. Thanks to his father Isidoro, he approached what it would become the passion of his life music.

He began his musical studies at the age of 11, and in 2018 he obtained a B.A. degree in Composition at the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Palermo Conservatory of Music – with full marks 110/110, honors and an honorable mention – under the guidance of the masters Marco Betta and Giovanni D’Aquila.

In 2022 Giovanni reaches another important training course, brilliantly achieving the second level academic diploma in composition Master degree M.A.  under the leadership of Maestro Giovanni D'Aquila, at the “Alessandro Scarlatti” Conservatory of Music of Palermo.

He attended international composition masterclass held by the french-argentine conductor and composer Oscar Strasnoy, italian composer and organist Francesco Filidei and the italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino, at the A. Scarlatti Conservatory of music in Palermo.

In 2017, a commission of experts chose Introspezione for the Bozar Next Generation event – among the most relevant international events dedicated to contemporary classical composers – included in the International Rostrum of Composers project, that took place at the Centre for Fine Arts Bozar, Brussels.

The composition was included in the schedule of the Massimo Theatre - Palermo for the New Music 2017, event and performed in the ONU Hall on 25th October.

Subsequently Introspezione was also selected by the Artistic Director Ulrich Hauschild and performed in the Henry Le Boeufzaal Hall of the Bozar Brussels on 19th November. In June 2018, Giovanni conceives Analepsis – a piano, choir and orchestra suite – which shows an important poetic and dramaturgical turning point in his career as a composer.

In this work, Giovanni summarized philological and musical aspects that are enclosed in his rich experience at Palermo Conservatory of Music. The composition was shown at the final exam of the academic path and performed by orchestra and choir in the Ferrara Hall of Palermo Conservatory of Music, on the 10th of November, 2018.

On 23 March 2022 on the occasion of the final exam of the second level academic course in composition, at the A. Scarlatti Conservatory in Palermo, in the splendid setting of the Rosario di S. Cita oratory, the composer presents a stage version of some arias taken from his own work entitled Esopera lyric tale in three scenes on a libretto by the Master and playwright, Chiara Lidia Giacopelli.

Giuseppe Devastato born in Naples, is a pianist and composer recognized by international critics as one of the most exciting pianists of his generation, completed his studies in Italy under Prof. Carlo Alessandro Lapegna (Piano) and Prof. Giacomo Vitale (Composition), his art has been crafted by renowned pianists such as Laura De Fusco, Francesco Nicolosi and Aldo Ciccolini.

 Giuseppe Devastato has worked in the most important theaters in Europe America and Asia, such as the Manoel Theatre (Malta), Sala Villanueva (Mexico), León Auditorium (Spain), Auditorium Parco della Musica (Rome), Ravello Festival (Italy), Carnegie Hall of New York (USA), Ateneum Bucharest, National Philharmonic of Timisoara (Romania) National Auditorium of Kiev (Ukraine), National Philharmonic of Szczecin, Tarnow, Krakow and Bydgoszczy (Poland), Wuxi Gran Theater, Beijing Performing Art Center, Shanghai Symphony Hall (China), Scriabin Museum Big Concert Hall (Russia), National Auditorium of Tokyo.

 Often invited to the Ravello International Festival, he performed the complete Sonatas and Variations for piano and cello of Beethoven and Brahms and has worked with many orchestras such as the IASI Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico, Kiev Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Chamber Orchestra, Accademia dell’Arco of Bydgoszcz and Saratoga Youth Spring Orchestra of New York. Giuseppe Devastato was awarded the “International Prize Cartagine 2011” to human merit and professional achievements in the “MUSIC” section, for the dissemination of music in general – and Italian music in particular – around the world, in virtue of the merits acquired as a pianist and composer, with the intention to spread the world of classical music: “His actions show high sensitivity and a deep love for life. His playing is intended to imitate the human voice and is inspired by the art of Bel Canto of the Neapolitan School”.

 The debut at Carnegie Hall in New York as a pianist and composer, May 30th, 2014 was greeted with a standing ovation, on this occasion he presented the “Sembazuru Fantasy” (dedicated to Tsunami Victims) for Violin, Piano and Orchestra. On December 15th, 2015 he won two international awards to Global Music Awards in Los Angeles – USA, Gold Medal “Toccata” composition, and Gold Medal “The Pianist Composer” album. His albums are published by Warner Chappel Music, CAM, Da Vinci Classics where they have received awards and reviews in the most important music magazines, and his albums are regularly broadcast by the most important classic radios in Europe and America.

 A distinguished teacher, he is currently invited to give master classes, lecture and seminaries all over the world in Europe, America and Asia, among the most important: in China (Lanzhou University, China Conservatories and Academies), Romania (Liceul de Arte Ion Vidu” Timișoara, Liceul de Arte ”Marin Sorescu” Craiova), Lithuania (Vilnius Naujoji Vilnia Music School), Poland (Academy of Art Szczecin), Italy (Faculty of Music Talent Master Courses of Brescia), Spain (Faculty of Music UAX, Musical Arts, Conservatories) UK (Purcell School), Belgium (Centre Musical Eduardo del Pueyo Brussels), Netherlands (Fontys Conservatory Music and Performing Arts) USA (University of Missouri – St. Louis).

 Having much experience in teaching, was appointed President of WPTA SPAIN (World Piano Teacher Association Spain) and written a book “The Science of Piano Technique” based on the technical and musical criteria of the Neapolitan School of S. Thalberg, adding his own modern vision after recovering from dystonia on his own. His compositions are performed regularly in Europe, America and Asia, performed by great performers and published by Da Vinci Edition. He is the Artistic Advisor of the International Piano Competition “The Neapolitan Masters” in Naples (Italy), “Mimas Music Festival” in Procida Island (Italy) and WPTA Spain IPC (Spain).

 He is Professor at Musical Arts Conservatory of Madrid (Spain), at the Accademia Musicale Europea in Naples (Italy), and guest professor at the Talent Music Masters Academy in Brescia (Italy), at the International Summer Academy EuroArtsAcademy (Germany).  In the last years many of his students won more than 50 prizes (first and second) at international piano competitions, members of Alink-Argerich, Newcastle YPN (2014), S.Thalberg (2015(, Cesar Franck (2017), Composers of Spain (2017), Maria Herrero (2017), Riga International Piano Competition (2017), Windsor International Piano Competition (2018), 9th International F. Liszt Piano Competition Weimar – Bayreuth (2018).

 His students’ achievements have included places and scholarships to study in important music Institutions (Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music of London, National Academy of Santa Cecilia of Rome, Mozarteum University – University of Music of Salzburg) and established successful careers as recording artists. He is often inivited as jury member in many international piano competitions worldwide.

Born in Palermo in 1983, Giuseppe Gammino attended at the Conservatory of Music “V. Bellini” of Palermo, where got a bachelor degree in violin. He attended at the University of Palermo, where he got his master degree (laurea magistrale) in musicology under the guidance of Massimo Privitera. He played in a lots of orchestras, he collaborates with the press area of the Massimo Theatre of Palermo and the press area of “Musicheria Magazine On-Line”. He attended at the music composition degree course at the Conservatory of Music “C. Monteverdi” of Bolzano, under the guidance of Heinrich Unterhofer. In 2013 his composition Quasi un divertimento for violin and flute, received several praises and positive remarks, at the musical contest Un “divertimento” per la convivenza, organized by the Collegium Musicum of Bolzano. His composition per aspera Ad Astra (2013) for bass clarinet, viola and live electronics, was performed at the Museion, Museum of modern and contemporary art of Bolzano; while the piece Connection failed was performed in November 2014 at the 40th Contemporary Music Festival. In 2016 he was selected among the best three composers as part of the "Residence for Composers" project, organized by the Municipality of Salorno and the "C. Monteverdi ”in Bolzano at the“ Sculpture garden ”of Pochi di Salorno. In July 2016, the piece Siddhartha I was ranked second from the competition organized by the Südtiroler Künstlerbund (SKB) in the context of “Settimane Mahleriane di Dobbiaco”. In 2019 the contemporary music festival of Bolzano commissioned him a piece, Pelle II, performed by the percussionist quartet conTakt on 11/13/2019. In 2021 the contemporary music festival of Bolzano commissioned him a piece for solo tuba, Λήθη (Lete), performed by the tuba player Michael Pircher. The SIMC - Italian Society of Contemporary Music has selected the score, Anánkē, in the Call for scores “De Institutione Musica” to be performed in the Dante 2021 Festival. In 2022 the score Λήθη (Lete), for solo tuba, won the first prize in the international composition competition “MaestrosVision Award”.

His compositions include orchestral, vocal and chamber music works and have been performed all over the world by renowned musicians such as National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra e Coro “LaVerdi” di Milano and others. In 2013 he was "composer in residence" by the Estonian National Male Choir. His works have been performed in Carnegie Hall, 55th Warsaw Autumn, MiTo SettembreMusica, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Milan Cathedral, etc. His music has been broadcasted by radio stations and TV. He has won international and national composition prizes. Graduated cum laude and special mention in composition at the Conservatory of Padua with Giovanni Bonato. He studied also with Salvatore Sciarrino. He is currently professor at the Padua Conservatory.

Livio Bollani graduated in Composition at the Milan Conservatory in the class of prof. Sonia Bo and in violin at the Piacenza Conservatory.

His compositions have been performed in prestigious concert halls, such as Teatro Municipale - Piacenza, Auditorium Paganini - Parma, Teatro Rendano - Cosenza, Palau de la Musica Catalana - Barcelona, Beirut, New York, Arizona State University - School of Composition, M. Jora Philharmonic Hall Bacau, Vidin State Philarmonic Hall - Bulgaria, Tokushima Bunry University - Japan etc. Among the interpreters of his music, great artists such as Sergej Krylov, Roberto Cappello, Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra, the actress Milena Vukotic and others.

Artistic Director of the Val Tidone Musica Foundation, Livio Bollani teaches Music Theory and Harmony at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Catanzaro, where he also founded the Class of Composition. In addition, He is currently director and Professor of Composition at the Accademia del Ridotto in Stradella.

Lorenzo Sidoti was born in Rome on the 22nd of March 1990, he took his first musical steps in the children's choir of the Arcum. He then decided to study the guitar and with it began his interest in composition and songwriting. In 2013 he graduated in Jazz Guitar at the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory. These experiences led him to found the Progressive Rock Dance band, So Does Your Mother, with which he recorded two albums. The desire to expand his artistic language led him to compose music to picture and after several short films he started to study composition, graduating at “Ottorino Respighi” Conservatory. In 2021 scored the feature “Qualcos’altro che ancora non c’è” that has debuted in the “Authors days” during the Venice International Film Festival and subsequently scored documentaries for the Italian national television (RAI) and movies for American productions. Besides his work for movies and documentaries he continues to compose for various ensembles.

Luca Incerti studied in Conservatory of Music "Santa Cecilia" in Rome, obtaining a Master's degree in guitar (full marks, 2013), conducting (full marks, 2020) and composition (full marks with honneurs, 2020). He attended many conducting masterclasses and competitions. Some of his compositions has been performed for the “Musica a Roma...per Roma” festival by Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble conducted by Tonino Battista, at Castelfidardo International Accordion Festival and at Scuderie Aldobrandini. In 2016 at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome his opera "Rest in Picture" has been performed in a collaboration project with Conservatory of Music “Santa Cecilia”, Accademia di Moda e Costume and Accademia di Belle Arti. In 2021 his transcription for voice and guitar of E. Satie’s Ludions has been published by Da Vinci Publishing. In 2022 his orchestration of Schumann's Adagio and Allegro has been performed in Rome, conducted by himself. At the moment he is assistant conductor of M° M. Guidarini.

Marco De Prosperis, conductor, pianist, Professor for correpetition ( piano coach for opera),orchestra score playng and piano at Music Academy " Claudio Monteverdi" in Bolzano.

References : (Studies and diplomas):

Diploma in Piano by Prof. Geza Hegy ( BUdapest Academy)

Diploma in composition at INnsbruck Conservatory ( Prof. Günther Andergassen)

Diploma with Honour in Orchestral conducting at the University of Music in Graz/Austria

( M° MIlan Horvath , former Chief Conducter of the Vienna Radio Symphonie Orchestra, and M° Martin Turnovsky ( former Chief Conductor Prague Symphoniy Orchester , Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden etc.)Master of Arts with honours at University of Music GRaz/Austria ( Thesis on " Aesthetics and Onthology in Georg LUkacs" )

Studies in piano accompaniment ( Lied) with Eric Werba .

Languages: Italian, German,English,French, Spanish.

Marco De Prosperis worked at the Opera House Graz as accompanist and Kapellmeister.

Agency: www.iberkonzert.com

He graduated in piano, composition and conducting (Cum Laude). Later he specialised at Regia Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, Italy, at the Städtische Bühnen in Münster, Germany, at Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto and at Accademia del Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. He started his career as a pianist and as a conductor at a very young age. His compositions have been performed in musical festivals and seminars, at Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, and broadcasted by RAI – History Channel. He works as a conductor – especially loving pieces from the opera and contemporary repertoire.

Music Director and Composer, he is music and artistic director of the 150 Symphony Orchestra, of the BA Lirica season at the Teatro Sociale of Busto Arsizio (Varese) and of ADADS Academy in Milano.

He was artistic and music director of the Opera Season at the Giuseppe Verdi Theater in Busseto (Pr). He studied organ and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and specialized in conducting with G. Gelmetti, L. Descev and Marc Andrae.

He has conducted important orchestras in various countries (Asia, Europe) such as Italian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma, Orchestra Città di Verona, Seoul Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Pro Arte Marche and many others.

His compositions are published by the Sconfinarte editions of Milan and Universal Edtition and have been performed in important international events such as the Toronto Peace International Film Festival, the Municipal Theater of Piacenza, the International Organ Festival of Finale Ligure and in Germany, Ukraine, Korea and many others countries.

His Melologhi for voce recitante and piano have been performed by famous actors such Corrado Tedeschi, Debora Caprioglio and Ettore Bassi.

His "Requiem Covid - 19" has achieved great acclaim from audience and critic.

With the writer Anna Bonacina he composed the work for voice and piano "Sei cose impossibili prima di colazione"

Fedalto is an award-winning composer.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in Piano (Ferrara), Scoring for Band (Verona), Komposition and a Master's Degree (Mozarteum, Salzburg)

He finalised his musical training at Hollywood Music Workshop (Vienna), at Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive Course (Los Angeles), at Scuola di Musica (Fiesole) and at Accademia Filarmonica Romana (Roma)

Among others, he is the composer of LEO DA VINCI, an international franchise available on Netflix including 1 long-feature-Film and 2 Tv-Series

During the 78th Venice International Film Festival he presented L’OCCHIO CHE ASCOLTA, a co-written book published by Diastema Studi e Ricerche along with VFC, CINIT, CIDIM, ACMF, EFPI

He created IL CINEMA SUONATO™, a chamber orchestra devoted to performing the great repertoire of Film Music

His music has been performed in many concert halls and Festivals, by the Bözen Haydn Orchestra, San Remo Orchestra, Giovani Musicisti Veneti, Orchestra Senzaspine

His music is published by Universal Edition (Vienna)

WAS BORN IN COMO (ITALY) IN 1962. HE STUDIED COMPOSITION WITH LUCIANO CHAILLY AND GIUSEPPE GIULIANO; ELECTRONIC MUSIC WITH RICCARDO SINIGAGLIA AT THE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC OF MILAN, GETTING HIS DIPLOMAS IN 1985 AND 1988. HE ATTENDED SEVERAL PERFECTIONING COURSES LIKE : ACCADEMIA CHIGIANA - SIENA (FRANCO DONATONI); ATELIER DE RECHERCHE INSTRUMENTAL IRCAM - PARIS; DARMSTADT FERIENKURSE. HIS MUSIC HAS BEEN REWARDED AND RECOGNIZED IN IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIONS (GAUDEAMUS MUSIC WEEK AMSTERDAM - CONCORSO INTERNAZ. "CASELLA" SIENA – CONCORSO INTERNAZ. GUIDO D’AREZZO - FESTIVAL WNMD 2010 SYDNEY - IBLA GRAND PRIZE NY- MUSLAB MEXICO - NYCEMF ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL NY - FORUM WALLIS (INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FUR NEUE MUSIK DE MUSIQUE CONTEMPORAINE) - MA/IN MATERA INTERMEDIA FESTIVAL - INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SCORES FOR PIANO SOLO WORKS RMN CLASSICAL - "ROSETTA CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE" CALL FOR SCORES KIOTO - VSMF – VIENNA SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL ETC.) AND PLAYED ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Born in 1969, Marco Nodari started his studies of Composition at the Conservatory of Brescia with the G. Facchinetti, E. Brusa and P. Ugoletti, and graduated in Milan with A. Corghi. Being interested also in non-musical subjects, he graduated in Architecture. In 2009 he specialised with honours in Composition at the Conservatory of Brescia. He attended specialised courses and he was awarded prize in many national and international competitions. His music has been performed by eminent musicians and has been played in important classical events and seasons in many places both in Italy and abroad. He has published works with editors such as Suvini Zerboni, Rugginenti, Ludo, Armelin, Eufonia and Concertoclassics. In 2013 he recorded a Cd completely dedicated to his piano music compositions, in 2015 a Cd dedicated to his chamber music and in 2019 a Cd dedicated to his organ music (other pieces in various cd’s). Currently he is teaching Harmony and Analysis at Conservatory of Verona.

Born in Patti in 1996, he graduated with a score of 110 cum laude and honors obtaining the master degree in piano under the guidance of the professor Gaetano Indaco at the "A.Corelli" conservatoire in Messina and the bachelor degree in Composition with the professor Giovanni D'Aquila at the "A.Scarlatti" Conservatory in Palermo. Currently he is perfecting at the master in composition with the professor Fabio Correnti and at the master in choir conducting with the professor Mauro Visconti at the conservatoire of Palermo. He is also attending the composition course at the Fiesole School of Music with the professor Andrea Portera. For the academic year 2017/18, he won the scholarship offered in the 1st Edition of the Music Tree Award for the best performance among graduates with the highest marks. As part of the Erasmus project, he attended the "Institut Supérieur de Musique et Pédagogie" (IMEP) in Namur, Belgium, with professor Roberto Giordano.

He has participated in several national and international piano and chamber music competitions, winning first prize several times. Among the most recent ones: the national competition "P. Mandanici" in Barcellona P.G., the international competition "L. S. D'Agata" in Acireale, the international competition "Amigdala" in Aci Bonaccorsi, and the national competition "B.Albanese" in Caccamo. He won the regional audition to be part of the Sicilian Youth Orchestra for the biennium 2018-20.

He has performed as a soloist and in ensembles for various prestigious musical associations, festivals, and public institutions including the Accademia Filarmonica, the Vincenzo Bellini of Messina, Amici della musica "G.Mulè" of Termini Imerese, and Piano City Palermo.

He has perfected his skills in various masterclasses held by internationally renowned masters such as Gilda Buttà, Gerard Marie Fallour, Pierluigi Camicia, Leslie Howard, Roberto Cappello, Michele Campanella, and Benedetto Lupo.

He has attended several masterclasses held by important composers such as Orazio Sciortino, Oscar Strasnoy, Salvatore Sciarrino, Francesco Filidei, Franco Piersanti, Paolo Buonvino and Marco Betta.

He also attended an annual masterclass in Orchestra Conducting with Maestro Bruno Cinquegrani in the academic year 2017/18 and in Choir Conducting with Maestro Enzo Marino in August 2024.

He has participated in various national and international composition competitions, winning first prize several times. Some of his compositions have been published by publishers such as Studiomusicalicata - musical editions and Cinque Linee Editions.

On the occasion of the Music Festival on June 21, 2022, his cadenza of the II movement of Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra K299 was performed by the soloists of the Youth Orchestra at the Massimo’s theatre in Palermo. His flute solo piece "Zéphyros," awarded with honorable mention in 2022 by the composition competition organized by the Flute New Music Consortium, has been performed several times in USA. In the occasion of the Unesco Sound Week, it has been played his piece “Uranòs” for bass clarinet in Pau (France) by the professor Jean-Jacques Godron.

In July 2023, his critical-musical essay "I Miroirs and the dualistic poetics of reflection" was published by the Kimerik publishing house.

Maria Chiara Casà (1994), sicilian composer, conductor and pianist, is author of symphonic and chamber music. She studied composition at the Conservatory of Palermo and Rome whit Giovanni D'Aquila, Antonio Di Pofi and Stefano Mainetti.

She has obtained several commissions from various italian theaters Her catalog includes chamber and orchestral works, music for theater and images, songs. Her music has been performed in Europe, in theaters as Teatro Massimo and Politeama Garibaldi Theater in Palermo, Palladium Theater, Nuovo Teatro Orione and Eduardo De Filippo Theater in Rome, Bozar Theater in Brussels.

In 2015 she conducted the first performance of her "Consolazione mirabile" in the presence of Sofija Gubajdulina, as part of the "New Music" review of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. With the musical fairy tale "Il piccolo principe" she won "Per Spartito Preso", an important composition competition of the AdM of Palermo (first performance at Teatro Politeama Garibaldi of Palermo). Her works are actually published Casa Musicale Sonzogno and Universal Edition.

Her musical language ranges between the main techniques of avant-garde music, with a particular focus on minimalism, neotonalism, spectralism and also songs with references to pop music.

The Italian violist Martina Forni grew up surrounded by many kinds of music. The equally diverse musical activities she would later employ, from baroque to contemporary music passing through jazz and Argentinian tango, turned her into an eclectic musician. 

She is passionate about arranging music for the Amsterdam based Ensemble Lumaka, the award-winning quintet of which she is a founding member.

Martina graduated at both the Conservatorio di Verona and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Among her teachers and mentors were Nobuko Imai, Michael Gieler, Umberto Forni and Anner Bylsma. 

In 2013 she joined the viola section of the Concertgebouw orchestra. Previously she was a member of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and played with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Asko|Schönberg for many years. 

She also plays baroque viola and has been principal violist of Anima Eterna Brugge, Ensemble Zefiro and La Chambre Philharmonique. 

Martina enjoys teaching viola and chamber music. In 2019 and 2020 she gave masterclasses to the South African Youth Orchestra, at the ILYO in Poland, and since 2020 is teaching music performance on original instrument at the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Summer Academy in Dobbiaco. 

Martino Traversa started studying music as a self-taught person at the age of seven. Thereafter, he has studied piano, composition, jazz music and electronic music supported by several teachers. Graduated in Information Technology at University of Parma, he obtained a degree at the High Perfecting Academy of Pescara in piano improvisation techniques. He attended masterclasses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustic (CCRMA) of Stanford University. From 1981 to 1987 he carried out research activities at the National Research Council (CNR). From 1987 to 1989 he studied with Luigi Nono. He created and conducted the Ensemble Edgard Varèse in 1990. In 1991 he instituted the international festival of modern and contemporary music “Traiettorie”. In 2008 he constituted Fondazione Prometeo, an institution with the aim to support and promote cultural initiatives in the domain of art, music and science. In the 2011 he founded Ensemble Prometeo. In 2016 he founded the scientific journal of musicology «Nuove Musiche». He has been Professor at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy - Musicology section - of the University of Parma. Besides the activity of being a composer, he is a researcher in the field of electronic technologies applied to musical acoustics and spatialization techniques. He co-operates with the leading solo and ensemble performers of contemporary music.

Massimiliano Coclite born in 1968 in Milan, graduated in piano and jazz at the Conservatories of Teramo and Bari with full marks and honors, studied with the Masters Claudio Menendez, Michele Marvulli, Pierluigi Camicia, Benedetto Lupo, Alexander Lonquich, Rudolph Buchbinder.
He won several national and international piano classic competition and partecipate at many masterclasses all over the world. In jazz music he studied with Roberto Ottaviano and Ramberto Ciammarughi. To his credit more than thirty records, one of latest release in July 2020 with a piano solo, “Midnight sun” for Musicab recorded at Rainbow studio in Oslo, which received 4 stars from international magazine Jazz Journal. He is a teacher of jazz singing at the Conservatory of Music “A. Casella” in l'Aquila.

Massimiliano Messieri (Bologna, 1964), composer, conductor and music director of the Maskfest (San Marino International Festival of New Music), after the academic and advanced studies (Bologna and Pesaro Conservatory of Music, Fiesole Academy, Chigiana Academy in Siena, IRCAM in Paris) he focuses his musical research on the arts’ interaction. Therefore with the Corea Dance Company are born the ballets: "Espressione I" ballet (Bologna, 1994), "Quintetto" (Bergamo, 1994), "Tarkìz" (Bologna, 1995) and "Cabaret Selvaggio" (Milan, 1999) with the Pierpaolo Koss Dance Company. In 1994 with the artist Daniela Carati, he organizes in Bologna the "Art Difference - hypothesis of interactions and coincidences of Prime Works of Painters, Sculptors, Composers and Poets" project and two year later it is published the book of art “Reazioni Interattive” (Circolo degli Artisti Edition, Faenza 1996). In 1997, the Italian Mozart Association in Rovereto, supported by the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, commissioned him the TafelOpera “Don Giovanni, The Redeemed Rake“ (1998), then later it is published by Loescher Editions inside an educational book for the first and second level "Musica dal Vivo" by Giovanni Duci with a preface by Claudio Abbado. In 2000, the National Research Institute for Material Physics (INFM) commissioned him, for the Genoa INFMeeting 2000, “Leonids’ Play“, a composition for 5 audio CDs created on the real sound of the Leonids provided by NASA. In 2004, he performs “Gretchens Traum” an opera for 4 actresses and electronics performed at the Ettersburg Castle and supported by Klassik Stiftung Weimar. In 2007, he records with Duo Messieri/Selva the audio cd “Noises X” (Drycastle Records) and two years later “Masken” (Drycastle Records, 2009). In 2010, he has the world premiere of the “Quartetto d’archi No.2” played by Krakow Philharmonic String Quartet for the “92nd Anniversary of the Reconquest of Poland's Independence” in Krakow Jewish Cultural Center. In 2012, he has the world premiere by “Zadig” 21 Capricios for solo cello (also hypercello) with Nicola Baroni (cello, Max/Msp and hypercello) in Espoo (Finland), and in the 2017, with the same cellist, he records all twenty-one capriccios on the namesake Cd for the AmadeusArte Label and distributed by Naxos. In 2018 the Mascagni Conservatory of Music in Livorno dedicates him a concert for the "Suoni Inauditi" International Festival, commissioning him "Salmo XLIII", lyric for soprano, male chorus, baritone saxophone and live electronics (Elena Tereshchenko, soprano; Valerio Barbieri, saxophone; Gabriele Micheli, conductor); in the same year the Embassy of San Marino in Vienna presents its music at the Rotunda Hall of the United Nations. In April 2019 at the Teatro Rossini in Pesaro, Messieri represents the world premiere by "Alice", a two-act opera with the Rossini Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dean Anderson and directed by Anna Tereshchenko. In 2020 during the Covid pandemic, Messieri writes a series of compositions for solo piano, and a year later they are recorded on "Islands" Cd by Patrizia Romanello for the AmadeusArte Label. In 2022, the saxophonist Alex Sebastianutto commissioned him “Elements” alto sax concert, performed in October at the Casino Opera Theater in Sanremo with Sanremo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nayden Todorv; while “Fantasia Concertante” for piano and string orchestra is performed in November at the Concert Hall of Joseph Haydn Private University in Eisenstadt (Patrizia Romanello, piano; Joseph Haydn Konservatoriums Orchestra, Chariklia Apostolu, conductor). In 2024, after the dedication and publication of "Scents" six capriccios for erhu and piano, and "4 Hands" divertimento for two pianists, Messieri has a series of concerts in Michigan performed by the Xiao Dong Wei and Yuki Mack Duo, and by The Mack Sister Piano Duo.

M. Messieri won the 1st prize at the International Competition of Composition “2 Agosto“ (Bologna, 1997), “100 note“ (New York, 2006), “CMN“ (Miami, 2013) and various national competitions. His scores are commissioned and performed at the Town Theatre in Bologna, at the Martinu Hall in Prague, at the Schlosskirche in Ettersburg (Weimar), IIC (Prague, Hamburg, Copenhagen and San Francisco), 1° and 2° International Piano Competition in Republic of San Marino, Forfest Festival in Kromeriz, “Cracovia Sacra” in Cracow, “ArtX Detroit” at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, Spectrum Foundation in New York, “CCRMA” Stanford University, “KSFNM” Festival Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, “Hole Memorial” La Sierra University Auditorium in Riverside, Scriabin Museum Auditorium in Moscow, “Hot Air Music Festival” in San Francisco, Merkin Hall in New York , Steinway Piano Gallery Recital Hall in Detroit, and in other music festivals.

As composer and conductor he holds masterclasses and lectures at the Conservatory of Music in Krakow, DAMS University in Bologna, Kennesaw State University in Atlanta, International Forfest Festival in Kromeriz, Illinois State University in Normal, IULM University in Milan, La Sierra University in Riverside, Edinburgh University. Messieri’s compositions are published and distributed by Universal Edition, Ut Orpheus Edition, Da Vinci Edition, and they are recorded on AmadeusArte, Tactus, Da Vinci Classics, Discantica and Drycastle Records. He is professor in theory and orchestral lessons at the “Istituto Musicale Sammarinese” Conservatory of Music in Republic of San Marino. 

Matteo Cristofori (Rome 1985) is an Italian composer and violinist. He graduated from the Conservatory of Florence in composition under the guidance of M.Ignelzi with full marks, two year ahead of schedule and he was awarded the Conservatory prize “C.J. Boncompagni”. He then pursued further studies with S.Sciarrino at the Accademia Chigiana di Siena. His works have been appreciated in several festivals, and have been granted in many international competitions. Mr Cristofori began studying violin at age 4, and at age 8 he was awarded the first prizes. He studied with G.Cappone and, after Consertory graduating he studied with G.Moench in Rome and with F.Cusano in Fiesole. In 2017 he played his “Concerto Breve per violino e orchestra” in a word premiere as soloist, in Florence. His musical language also embraces jazz & contemporary music. He also graduated in modern guitar with L. Panico at the S.Louis College of Music in Rome. He has been teaching jazz violin there since 2015.

Born in 1992, in 2005 he began to study piano and after few time fall in love with composition.

In 2011 was admitted to the G.Verdi Conservatory of Como in the class of composition of Vittorio Zago and Antonio Eros Negri.

He get beachelor cum luade in 2018 wirh his E.A. Poe inspired opera "The Tell-Tale Heart".

Actually he wrote more over 40 compositions for various ensembles, mainly in the chamber field.

He attended during years several masterclasses and seminars with composer as Gabriele Manca, Javier Torres Maldonado, Oscar Bianchi, Simon Steen-Andersen and Chaya Czernowin.

In 2013 harp piece "Rievocazioni" was reported in the competition "Resonances-Meetings of new music" - 2014 the piece for trombone "Contrasti" it was published by Edizioni Sconfinarte and in 2015 the piece "Aforismi III" and "Tre studietti flexibili" for Oboe was published by Edizioni Carrara

He collaborated with important nationally and italian renowned musicians including Donatella Colombo, Alessandro Castelli, Luca Avanzi, Guido Boselli, Marco Bonetti and Pier Francesco Forlenza.

He happily alternates the activity of composer with that of consultant in the field of renewable energy and sustainability business.

Freedom is its greatest value.

Maurizio Agostini was born in Florence in 1978. He graduated in piano at the Conservatorio di Musica “L.Cherubini” (Florence) under the guide of M° G. Cardini. He studied composition with M° S. Sciarrino and studied conducting with M°C.M.Giulini. Since 2008 he is “direttore musicale di palcoscenico” at “Teatro di San Carlo” in Naples. He works as conductor as well. As Composer spaces from the Symphonic to the cameristic music. Some of his compositions have been published: the Operas Mandragola (2004, OTOS edizioni musicali) and Fedra (2006, OTOS edizioni musicali), Parafrasi da concerto for piano solo (2006, Curci edizioni musicali); Messa di Requiem in memoria di Giovanni Paolo II (2007, Curci edizioni musicali) and the cantata Mysterium Matris Mariae (2014, MAP Edition); the children opera Chichibìo e la gru (2020, M&P ed.)

Maurizio Gabrieli, graduated in Music Composition (G. Piazza, 1985), Bassoon (A. Poleggi, 1983) and Electroacoustic music (W.Branchi,1985) at the Conservatorio di Musica ‘Santa Cecilia’, Rome, and has also followed courses with K Stockhausen , H.W. Henze, S. Bussotti and S. Sciarrino. Since 1981 he has been active as a composer of music for orchestra, chamber music, theatre, dance, documentaries, electroacustic music, multimedia installations, movies and live concerts events performed in Italy and abroad. Full professor of Composition from 1986, currently he also is President of the School of Applied Music (Film Scoring) and coordinator of the “Videogame’s music” first level master at the ‘S. Cecilia’ Conservatoire in Rome. He also taught in some Universities and at "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" in Rome. He often uses CAC (Computer algorithmic composition techniques) and holds a course in Aleatory music in Rome Conservatory

He graduated in Composition in 1999, under the guidance of M° Becheri, in Choral Music and Choral Direction at the Conservatory of Ferrara and in Double Bass at the Conservatory of Rovigo. He also graduated in Opera Direction at the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna and in Orchestra Direction at the Parma Conservatory.

He studied with M ° Scattolin, graduating with 110 cum laude plus la mention for publication, with a thesis on Giorgio's choral music Federico Ghedini and on an unpublished composition of his.

For several years he attended the Choir Conducting Courses held by Masters Zagni, Kirschner and Bortoluzzi, studying vocal technique with Ms Rizzo, at the Ass. Polyphonic of Ravenna.

In 1996, on the occasion of the "Many affections in a moment - in memory of Thomas Walker" initiative, included in "Ferrara Musica", the composition "Three pieces for voice and piano" (first absolute performance) was performed.

In 1998 he achieved the 3rd place classified in the "T.I.M." with the composition "O sortir" for flute and piano.

In 2000 the composition "Praga Progressive" for orchestra was performed d’archi (world premiere) at the Municipal Theater of Ferrara.

Always at the Municipal Theater of Ferrara and in the same year he comes performed a reduction for a small orchestra of the II and III movements of Chopin's Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra.

In 2001 a reduction of it was performed at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara for small orchestra from Ludwig's Concerto No. 4 for piano and orchestra van Beethoven.

In 2007 he received the Second Prize at the 17th Competition International "City of Barletta" with the composition "Esser – citare" for piano.

In 2018, at the helm of the "Lucio Dalla" high school choir, he won the first absolute prize (ex aequo) at the 7th International Competition “Città di Scandicci” with excerpts from George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess.

In 2019, at the head of the "Lucio Dalla" High School Choir, he obtained a Recognition of Merit at the Abbado Award: Far Musica Insieme 2019 for the "Repertori del '900 italiano" project.

In 2018, at the helm of the Euridice Choir, he obtained the 3rd Prize at the 17th Biennial Composition Competition AGC Verona, with the piece “Languages” for 16 voices.

He has made two Compact Discs with the Armònia choir in which he conducted pieces from the traditional Spiritual and Gospel repertoire.

In 2017 he published, for Tactus, in collaboration with Pier Paolo Scattolin, a double CD of compositions by both entitled: “BICINIUM”.

In 2021 a new CD was released, published by Tactus, entitled "CHAMBER WORKS"

In 2022 he participated in the 4th World Championship in Composition organized by the Franz Schubert Konservatorium in Vienna, obtaining two prizes in the categories:

4. cat - Chamber Music, Third prize ex aequo (First not awarded) with the composition "Elementa II" for violin and piano;

7. cat - Voices (solo, ensemble or choir), Third prize (First not awarded) with the composition “Languages” for 16-voice choir.

He currently collaborates with the Euridice Choir and teaches the “CHORUS” Courses for Choir Conductors.

He is a teacher of Theory, Analysis and Composition at the Liceo Musicale in Bologna.

Moritz Polin, born in Mals / South Tyrol (I) Percussion Teacher, Composer and Creator of his own Sound and Percussion Heal Methode. Studies in Percussion, Drums, Choir Conducting and Piano on the Conservatory Innsbruck (A), although on Leopold-Franzens-University Innsbruck (A), Master Degree in Musicology and Bachelor Degree in Europan Ethnology. Studies of Music theory, Music Story and Composition at the Mozarteum Salzburg (A) R.Gratz, P.Suitner, R.Dünser, L.Traiger, G.Andergassen, G.Zechberger - www.moritz-polin.at

Classical pianist, composer, researcher, Nicola Elias Rigato graduated with full marks with honors and honorable mention in Piano, Composition and Chamber Music, under teachers as Oxana Yablonskaya and Elisabetta Brusa. He won several international competitions in piano, chamber music, and composition.

His music is played in Italy and Europe, and is used to establish the “Challenge Award” at OYPI Masterclass and competition in Eilat (Israel). His "Left Alone" was played from 11 well known pianists in video performance during the pandemic. The italian label Futura Modulans have published two albums of his piano solo music, and many singles. His music was recorded by international pianist Erato Alakiozidou in "Silent Landscapes" and published by Da Vinci Records; the greek pianist performed his Piano Concerto with the Dafo Quartet two times in 2022 (Cracow, Thessaloniki).

He is responsible for Italy of Fundus, international project bringing contemporary music to the major Italian art museums. With this project, his work for clavicord, inspired on De Chirico's "Cavalli in riva al mare" has been performed in MART Museum in front of the painting by Hansruedi Zeder. He writes music for any kind of ensamble and usage, from Radio to Audio-book, from museum installations to dance choreography.

He is founder of We-Choir, a virtual choir for contemporary music extended throughout the world, being invited in international music festivals and performing music by Rigato and other emerging composers. He teaches piano and composition in Liceum, music schools, giving lectures in international masterclasses and at Universities.

Omar Dodaro is graduated in music theory and composition (MAS/MA), electronic music (MA), music pedagogy (MA) and psychology (MA) in Padua (Uni PD), Como, Milan (Conservatories) and Lugano (CSI SUPSI). His works were selected in festival, competitions and calls as «Art keys Prize» (Agropoli), «Musica nel Tennis» (Milan), «Minikino» (Bali), «NYCEMF» (USA), «Los Angels CineFestival» (USA), «Boomtown Film and Music Festival» (USA), «Mus Lab» (Mexico), «Today’s music» (Rome), «Mauricio Kagel» (Wien), «Crisis and Rebirth» (Genoa), «Feeding the music» (Milan), «ICMC 2015» (USA), «Concerti di Mezzogiorno» (Orta S. Giulio), «Synchresis» (Valencia and Granada), «Sergio Dragoni» (1t prize, Milan), «Punti di ascolto 6» (Rome), «Vuoto ciclo IV» (Naples), «Apocalypse project» (Milan), «Pierre Schaeffer» (3rd prize, Pescara). He composed the original soundtrack of movie The Merchant of Dreams, awarded at «Moving Picture Film Contest» (USA). He’s teaching composition and music technologies. He's nowadays teaching electronic music composition, interpretation and multimedia art in «Bellini» Conservatory of Music (Catania).

Paolo Fradiani graduated (MA) with 110/110 and honours in Composition and Jazz, he studied at the Conservatory of Music"Alfredo Casella" in L'Aquila and Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.

As a bass player he has played with some of the most relevant national and international festivals of jazz including Villacelimontana Jazz Festival, Atina Jazz, Tuscia in Jazz, Valsugana Jazz Tour (Trentino Jazz ), Festival Internazionale di Mezza Estate, Suono Italiano 2016 at the Italian Institute of Culture - Istanbul and live on national radio “Radio 3”.

His works have been performed in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA in festivals such as Festival di Bellagio e del Lago di Como, Invenzioni – New Tubes, Neuköllner Originaltöne, Heidelberger Kammermusikfestival, Werkstatt Neue Musik, Cello Modern, Geophon – Earquake, Arpissima, Casella in Concerto, Festival Arpe in Villa, Festival dei 2 Mondi di Spoleto, Stagione della Società Aquilana dei Concerti B.Barattelli, The Mannheim Project, Stiftung Mozarteum/Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, Theater Aachen/Klassik Lounge, Symphony in the Gardens, Vinterfestspill i Bergstaden, Storioni Festival, Östergötland Music Days, Musikakademie Liszt Ferenc, TivoliVredenburg, Strings City, Zermatt Music Festival & Academy, Festival Nuova Consonanza, Opernhaus Zürich, Studio Opera Paris, LG Arts Center, Cincinnati Opera, Rusk Chamber Music Festival, Østerbro Kammermusikfestival, Ascoli Piceno Festival;

and performed by soloists, ensemble and orchestras like as Nabla Ensemble, Anemos Quartet, Ensemble Casella, EMCF Ensemble of Contemporary Music of Ferrara Conservatory, Insieme a Corde Vuote Ensemble, GAM Ensemble, Ensemble del Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Ensemble Impressionnisme, Ensemble der Musikhochschule Freiburg, Spinoza-Ensemble, MA.NM Ensemble, Ensemble Ludwig, Morii Ensemble, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Cantus Ansambl, der/gelbe/klang Ensemble, Camerata Europaea Innsbruck, Rusk Royal Festival Ensemble, Østerbro Festival Ensemble, Ensemble ATL, Bard Conservatory Orchestra, Ambassade Orchester Wien, Orchestra I Pomeriggi Musicali, “Collegium Musicum Mannheim” Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Symphony Orchestra of L’Aquila Conservatory, Sinfonieorchester TonArt Heidelberg, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Toronto Concert Orchestra, Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej, Lappeenranta City Orchestra, Festival Sinfonietta, Pepperdine University Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonische Orchester der Stadt Trier, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Orchester des Pfalztheaters, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Sinfonieorchester der Robert Schumann Hochschule, Orquesta Filarmónica del CSMA, Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Sapere Aude Sinfonietta, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Benedetto Croce, Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh, Kansas City Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Roma Tre Orchestra, Kammerakademie Potsdam, O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach, Orquesta de la Comunitat Valenciana, Orquesta de Valencia, GIO Symphonia, Joensuun Kaupunginorkesteri, Jönköpings Sinfonietta, Kammerorchester der Großregion, Philharmonia Zürich, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Conservatorium van Amsterdam Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonie Orchester Biel Solothurn, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Santa Barbara Symphony, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan and Berliner Philharmoniker soloists.

His works have been broadcast by radio stations NPO Radio4 (The Netherlands), Rai Radio3 (Italy), SR 2 Kulturradio (Germany) and television broadcasters Arte TV (Germany/France), Podium 19 (Belgium) and Regio TV Bodensee (Germany).

was awarded at “Insieme a corde vuote” for L’Aquila, at the Italian Ministry of Education’s “Premio Abbado 2015” and at “National Festival of Italian Conservatoires - III Edition”; and winner of the national call SIAE “S’illumina Copia privata per i giovani, per la cultura”.

Has been composer in residence at Società Aquilana dei Concerti “B. Barattelli”.

He is currently professor of Composition at the State Conservatory of Music "Nino Rota" in Monopoli (Italy)

His works have been published by 2eleven edition musiQ, Da Vinci Edition, Donemus Publishing, Edition Margaux and Universal Edition.

Paolo Ghiglione was born in Alessandria, Italy, in 1993. He graduated with high honours and distinction in Piano in 2011, specializing afterwards with M° Andrea Carcano, and in Composition (with M° Paolo Ferrara, a student of M° Carlo Pinelli, who was a student of Paul Hindemith and Federico Ghedini) with high honours in 2019. He graduated with high honours and distinction both in Ancient Literature and in Linguistic Sciences from the University of Turin. His compositions have been commissioned and performed in festivals and events including in particular: Settimana della Musica Contemporanea in Novara, at the Conservatory "G. Cantelli", the 45th Festival of Contemporary Music in Bolzano, and the MiTo Settembre Musica 2021 Festival. He is also very active as a pianist, soloist, accompanist, and chamber musician, performing in various repertoires or genres with a particular interest in contemporary music.

I was born in Bologna in 1983. Composer and double bass player. Graduated with top marks in Composition (2nd level Academic Biennium) at the G.B. Martini Conservatory of Bologna. Between 2020 and 2023, I attended the Course of High Musical Composition of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna under the direction of Azio Corghi and Mauro Bonifacio. In 2022 and 2023 I attended the Composition Masterclasses with Maestro Ivan Fedele. Between 2005 and 2008, I obtained the Diploma in Violin Making in the School of Artistic Craftsmanship of Pieve di Cento. During this training, I built my current instrument. I actively collaborate as a composer and double bass player in numerous orchestral realities in Bologna. I have obtained several publications. In particular, in 2023 the piece a-Simmetrie for piano was published by Da Vinci Edition, distributed by Hal Leonard. I was awarded of prestigious prizes, as the 2nd Prize at the “Premio Roma Andrea Ceraso” International Composition Competition.

Graduated in piano at the “G.Puccini” Conservatory of La Spezia with Professor Gioiella Giannoni.

At the same Conservatory he graduated in composition studying with Maestro Enrico Marocchini and later with Maestro Andrea Nicoli.

He studied with his wife Ileana Frontini (pianist too) with J. Paratore at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and had the opportunity to perform for: State Police, Bellagio Festival and Lake Como, Associazione Il faro di Tavennec di Benevento, University of Padua, Palazzo Cavagnis Cultural Center of Venice, Mozarteum of Salzburg, Session '900 of Livorno, Association of Romantic Notes of Verbania, Rachmaninoff Association of Salerno etc.

His compositions have been performed in the New Music Spaces Festival in Rome by Maestro Ada Gentile, in the Contemporary Music Festival of Bellagio and Como, in the 5 Giornate Festival in Milan, in the Nuova Consonanza festival in Rome, in the Osmose Festival in Bruxelles. 

He has published: two CDs "Archives of the XXI century" series of the Contemporary Music Center of Milan; a CD of contemporary music for 4 hands pf, “Music from a parallel world vol. 2 ”by the MAP Editions publishing house; a CD on the music of F. Kuhalu for Brilliant Classics; of the CD “The treepenny piano” with music for 4 hands piano for Da Vinci Classics.

He has published scores with Sillabe, MAP Editions, Da Vinci Editions, Taukay musical editions. In 2015 the Nuova Consonanza Festival in Rome commissioned him to compose a melologue in one act, "Il grande balipedio" on a text by C. Della Corte and libretto by S. Cappelletto, dedicated to the Great War and staged in November 2015 in Rome and broadcast on Rai Radio Tre in August 2016.

Winner of the Lunigiana International Music Festival composition competition, in 2019 he founded the Contemporary Noise Ensemble which is dedicated to the disclosure of contemporary music with particular regard to improvisation, performance and the union of the arts.

He is a member of the Italian Society for Contemporary Music (SIMC) - Milan.

I am Pasquale Mosca, a Neapolitan musician, pianist, composer and musicologist. I obtained my piano diploma in 1991, with honours, at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples under the guidance of professor Anna Maria Pennella, afterwards I perfected my piano skills with the pianist Oxana Yablonskaja of the Juliard school of New York. In 1996, combining my concert activity with humanistic studies, I obtained, with full marks, a degree in modern literature with a historical-musical focus, under the guidance of the musicol-ogist Agostino Ziino at the University of Naples Federico II. In 2007 I obtained the diploma in Music Teaching, with full marks at the conservatory G. Martucci in Salerno. At the same conservatory I obtained the diploma in Teaching of Instrumental Music and the diploma in Choral Music and Choral Conducting in 2010. In 2017 I obtained the II level academic diploma in Composition, with full marks and honours, under the guidance of the composer Gaetano Panariello

RAFFAELE BELLAFRONTE (Vasto *1961) graduated in piano with Lucia Passaglia, studied composition and analysis with Firmino Sifonia, Giampaolo Chiti and Fulvio Delli Pizzi. After years of research and experimentation in recording studios, his production gradually shifts from a model where the author expresses his ideas, realizes them and proposes them definitively through an audio medium, to one that reconnects the threads with the compositional strategies of previous centuries. His works have been published by Universal (Vienna), Les Productions d’Oz (Canada), Rai Com, Curci, Carisch, Bongiovanni, Bèrben, DaVinci Edition (Japan) and cross national borders to land on sale in concerts and theaters among the most important in the world such as Carnegie Hall in New York where in October 1996 Oasi alla mente was commissioned and performed in a world premiere. Since then, many other important events have taken place, including: Moscow (Tchaikovsky Hall) 2002 Sur le blanc, concerto for flute and orchestra; Vienna (Konzerthaus) 2003 world premiere of Il labirinto dell’anima for piccolo and orchestra; Denver (Colorado) 2004 world trumpet convention, first performance of Afrika for trumpet and piano; San Diego (California) 2005 world flute convention, first performance of The Crazy Acrobat for piccolo and piano; Tokyo 2005 world clarinet convention, first performance of Frammenti d'ombra e luci for solo clarinet; Rome - Parco della Musica - 2005 Italian government Christmas concert with Ave Maria for soprano and orchestra; Vienna 2009, in the official season of the Musikverein, world premiere of Zeit, concerto for bassoon and orchestra; September 2011 at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, with “I Virtuosi della Scala” world premiere of Frontiere for clarinet and string orchestra; 2013 New York, world premiere of Maria del Mar for double bass and piano at the ISB - International Society of Bassists; April 2014 at the Teatro alla Scala with Midnight plays for clarinet, cello and piano. On January 30, 2015 he returns to Carnegie Hall in New York with the American premiere of Tarantella for guitar, and on November 6, 2016 at the Musikverein in Vienna with the world premiere of Suite No.2 for bassoon, guitar and string orchestra. He has recorded for the record companies Summit Records, Brilliant Classics, Stradivarius, Tactus, Delos International, Rai trade, Bongiovanni. Creator and artistic director of the Masterclasses – Seminari Musicali Internazionali, since 1990, he has curated all the editions for twenty years. Since 2007 he has been the Artistic Director of the Teatro Rossetti and the Scuola Civica Musicale – Città del Vasto. He has taught at the Conservatories of L’Aquila, Sassari, Como and Trapani. For 22 years he has been a teacher at the Campobasso Conservatory.

In 2003 he received a Grammy Award nomination with the recording of Suite No.1 for Delos Recors (USA) with Dimitri Illarionov and Boris Andrianov. In 2017 he received the prestigious international award “Golden Guitar for Composition” at the 22nd International Guitar Conference on the occasion of the 50th edition of the “Michele Pittaluga” Guitar Competition in Alessandria. On 9 April 2018 he returned to the Teatro alla Scala with the world premiere of the string quartet In Search of Dance with the Teatro alla Scala String Quartet.

His recordings and publications are included in the major world music catalogues.

www.raffaelebellafronte.it

Italian-American composer, keyboardist and conductor Raphael Fusco has been hailed by the international press as “one of the most outstanding composers of his generation (El Mundo).” His genre-crossing compositions for voice, chamber ensembles, historical instruments, orchestra, and theatre have been commissioned by Branford Marsalis, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, I Cantori New York, Hartford Chorale, Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra of New York, I Porporini, Opernfestival Oberpfalz, Opera Lucca and members of the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestras. Mr. Fusco earned his Masters Degree at the Mannes College of Music, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, Conservatorio G. Verdi di Torino, Vienna Konservatorium, and Paris Schola Cantorum. Since 2019 Raphael Fusco has served as Senior Artist in the Institute for music theater at the University for Performing Arts in Graz, Austria where he is also pursuing a doctoral degree in composition.

Biography

Riccardo Riccardi is a composer and playwright, as well as a painter and architect. Some people surely consider him a Renaissance man. Less generous people think that he does too many things to do all of them well. To them he smiles and says, "I'm a Jack of all trades...but I usually do just one thing at a time”.

Education:

Riccardo Riccardi was born in 1954 in Rimini. He studied piano there at the Liceo musicale Lettimi, with Guido Zangheri. At the same time he attended High School at the Liceo classico Giulio Cesare. At seventeen, he was chosen as soloist for Pietro Montani's, Concertino in E, performing with the Lettimi's string orchestra. That started him looking at music with a different eye. His true artistic passion, before that, had been painting.

In 1972 he moved to Florence to study architecture. He also studied piano concurrently with Franco Scala, graduating in 1976. Out of curiosity, he had begun studying composition at the Cherubini Conservatory. His composition teachers were, first, Pier Luigi Zangelmi and then Carlo Prosperi. It was from Prosperi, above all, that he learned the craft of composition. From 1977 to 1980 he made long visits to Germany, and, in 1980, worked as a music coach at the Youth Festival Meeting in Bayreuth. In 1981 he earned his degree in Architecture with his dissertation, "Theories of Harmonic Proportions in the Architectural Treatises of the Renaissance". In July, 1982 he earned a degree in composition and moved to California that August.

Artistic activity:

From the first work in his catalog in 1973 until the early 1990's, Riccardo Riccardi almost exclusively composed instrumental music in a late expressionistic style, the style in which he was educated. In the early 1980's, with Ad libitum for piano, he turned toward the style he would increasingly develop in the following years: an emancipation of rhythm against a strongly melodic design. Ad libitum was the inspiration for a series of piano pieces revised in 1988 for an event dedicated solely to Riccardi's piano music at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid.

Riccardi’s first approach to musical theater came in 1991 with a work that is half ballet, half opera, The Ugly Duckling. Since then, the sung word has become central to his creative activity. In that same year he began his song cycle, Canti da Pessoa, for voices and instruments---a project that involved him for more than a decade. These songs, with text fragments drawn from the great Portuguese poet, are newly envisioned in Italian and represent the most rarefied stage of Riccardi's output.

In 1996 for Arcosanti, an utopian city built in the Arizona desert, Riccardi wrote L'avvenimento for piano and narrator, on fragments taken from Rainer Maria Rilke and Vincent Van Gogh. In 1997 he expanded this pianistic poem into his chamber opera, L'avvenimento, a work in which he created his own libretto.

From the early nineties he began combining his musical and painting activities. His paintings, influenced by the post-expressionists, undulate between the figurative and the abstract. He has had solo shows in Italy, France and the U. S. These have been among his most recent exhibits: Each of us is more than one at the Galleria dell’Immagine in Rimini (2002) and The Mirror at the Complesso del Vittoriano in Rome (2004), and Snippets at the Corin Gallery, in Towson, Maryland (2004). After this, Riccardi's painting activities were temporarily suspended due to his greatly increased focus on musical theater.

In 2004, for the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Riccardi composed The Man Who Loved Islands for narrators and piano, that evolved in 2006 into a work for an actor, soprano and orchestra. For both versions he wrote the libretti, based on a story by D. H. Lawrence.

In 2009, under a commission from Opera Bazar, Riccardi wrote, Talk Show. The libretto was inspired by two of Rainer Maria Rilke's Totentänze, adapted to the present-day. In 2010 Riccardi wrote two more operas: the first, F.S.S.P.A., based on his own libretto, is set in a modern train station. The second, Una questione d'onore, based on Leutnant Gustl by Arthur Schnitzler, is set in Baroque Venice.

In 2011 he worked on a cycle of 22 songs entitled, Não sou nada. Again the material is taken from Fernando Pessoa but this time retains the original text and the Portuguese language.

In 2012 he created a libretto from the novel Caprice, by Ronald Firbank. The result was a satyrical opera, Shakespeare & Gossip. Then in 2013 he wrote from scratch Il testamento (The Will), a theatrical play with musical arias that had its premier at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.

In 2016 Riccardi received a request from the Italian Embassy in Washington D. C. to compose a chamber theater work for the celebration of the Italian "Festa della musica" at the Embassy. Moving-out resulted, a play with arias and duets whose action takes place inside a New York apartment. In the same year he revised and completed the instrumentation of his opera Shakespeare & Gossip for the Museo di Roma, in the Palazzo Braschi, Rome.

Between 2016 and 2017 he wrote the libretto and music for L'ascensore, an opera conceived as closing his cycle, Il trittico della banalità whose first two dramas are Talk Show, set in a TV studio and F.S.S.P.A., set in a train station. L'ascensore was presented in May of 2018 in the Sala Accademica del Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome.

In 2018 he finished the composition of Il direttore, a through-composed work, first sketched in 2012. For the libretto of Il director, Riccardi used a scene and two characters from Der Kammersänger by Franz Wedekind. He developed a new story by inventing three more characters from scratch. The opera was staged at the Teatro di Villa Torlonia, in Rome in May 2019. Also in 2018 he wrote Duello, a work that draws inspiration from harassments in the entertainment world: it is a play within a play and includes arias and concertos from operas of the classical era. The authors cited are: Gazzaniga, Salieri, Cimarosa, Mozart, and Rossini.

In 2019 he wrote a new Italian version of his two English-language plays, Il testamento (The Will), and Moving Out which he had written for Dublin and Washington, respectively. The new versions are not limited to a translation: both works, thanks to the addition of a mezzo-soprano in the first, and a tenor in the second, are expanded with new dialogues, arias and concertos and with new instrumentation. Both productions were staged in October 2021 at the Theater of Villa Torlonia, with direction, sets, costumes and lighting design by the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

The end of 2019 he turned to the creation of a satirical text of social criticism: Questionario, a theatrical play with arias and a prologue in one act. The play features a singer/actress alone on stage, dialoguing with the reverberating voices of two offstage actors. It had its premiere at the Teatro Nacional de Panamá, Panama City, September 2021.

In 2020, he wrote the libretto and music of La via del mare, which features a prologue, three days and an epilogue, and takes place in 1985 at an unspecified place on the Italian coast. Central to the unfolding of the story is the issue of building abuses, dealt with in a light and amusing way.

In 2021, on a libretto developed from a 2009 sketch, he began work on the two-act opera entitled, La disfatta, which explores the psychological relationship between a writer and his ex-wife.

In 2021, he returned to writing instrumental works and wrote his first string quartet. This is the first of four quartets he wrote over the next two years. It's also the year he composed Tra mare e mare a Concerto for percussion and orchestra. 

In 2023, and in the wake of his return to writing instrumental pieces, is Come era bello quando sognavo, a large piece for string orchestra. That same year he also wrote Della natura del mondo, an Archaic Oratorio for Mixed Chorus and an instrumental Ensemble, based on a late Renaissance Italian translation of texts drawn from Plato's Timaeus.

In 2024, besides revising his previous compositions, Riccardi wrote a new Concerto for trumpet and orchestra.

Activity as a teacher:

Riccardo Riccardi held the Chair of Composition at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Music in Florence from 1988 to 2012 and at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music in Rome from 2012 to 2021. He has also served as Professor of Composition in the Florence Program of New York University from 2008 to 2012, as Professor of Music Appreciation at Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, Indiana) in their Rome Program from 1998 to 2013.

From 1988 to 1991 he produced educational programs for the Radio Nacional de España and for Radio 3, Italian National Radio. Since 1994 he has been a visiting professor in colleges in California, Arizona, Indiana, New York and Maryland. He has taught master classes in Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Poland and Panama.

Fellowships and awards:

1980 He was one of the circle of the winners of the Rassegna Internazionale della Filarmonica Umbra, with his Quartetto per sette strumenti a fiato.

1983 He received the Composer's Award at the 21st Southwestern Youth Music Festival with his Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.

1987 He was awarded "honorable mention" at the Premio Città di Castelfidardo with his Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra.

1995 He was chosen by the California State University as Italian liaison for the project: Exploration of Musical Traditions – A Program of Cultural Cooperation between the United States and Italy.

2009 He received a Grant from the Center for Academic Innovation – Indiana for his opera, Talk Show.

2014 He was the Nancy Unobskey Visiting Artist in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Goucher College, Towson, Maryland.

From 2022 to 2024 he was Director of International Projects at the International Centre for Contemporary Music, London. 

Since the summer of 2024 he has devoted himself solely to his creative work.

Rick Romano (Turin, Italy, 1982) is a highly accomplished Composer-Conductor-Producer. He earned the "Master of Talents" scholarship from CRT Foundation and received accolades in prestigious international competitions, including Ricordi/Universal, City of Milan, and MITO Settembre Musica Festival, ranking among the top 3. His impressive catalogue comprises over 100 commissioned works, spanning concert music, film scores, and stage plays. Some pieces were performed across Europe and the USA and published by major labels like EMI and Warner/Chappell. He holds a Master's Degree in Composition graduating with honours from the Conservatory of Music "Vivaldi" in Alessandria, Italy, under the guidance of M. Paolo Ferrara. He then refined his skills in masterclasses with esteemed composers like S. Reich, D. Lang, and Academy Award-winners A. Desplat and L. Bacalov. As a conductor, Rick gained recognition through sold-out concerts with various orchestras in the Greater London area.

ROBERTO FRANCA , pianist and composer has studied in Italy at the Conservatory G. Rossini, in Pesaro, where he graduated in 2002 with highest score. Then he was admitted to the International Piano Academy "Incontri col Maestro" in Imola (Italy), where he studied piano with Piero Rattalino and Boris Petrushansky and composition with Marco di Bari. He has composed and performed soundtracks for short films winning several national awards. In 2019 his works have been selected for the final round of the International Competition for Composers “Classical Pure Wien Competition”. He collaborate with Conservatory G. Vrerdi and Ricordi Music Schools in Milan. He just becomes Pianist for the Orchestra Sinfonica of Milano and start to work with the international agency Fever as pianist for the Candlelight Concerts series, also playing his own piano transcriptions. On 2022 comes out his first album with Urania Records label, dedicated to the complete original piano music by Chick Corea.

Silvio Bartoli is an Italian composer and pianist born in 1989, whose academic training began at the Conservatory of Trieste. He obtained a Bachelor Degree in Piano under the guidance of Claudio Crismani and a Bachelor Degree cum laude in Composition, studying with Stefano Bellon and Fabio Nieder. Continuing his education, he earned a Master in Composition at the Royal College of Music with Alison Kay, achieving the highest marks.

Since 2015, Bartoli has collaborated with various organizations, institutions, associations, and soloists, including Woland Association, Appassionata, OCV, Explore Ensemble, The Hermes Experiment, Georgi Tsenov, and many others. He contributed to the scores of silent films such as "Eine Venetianische Nacht" by Max Reinhardt and "La Memoria dell'Altro" by Alberto Degli Abati, performed successfully during the "Le Giornate del Cinema Muto" in Pordenone.

He has participated in masterclasses with composers like Salvatore Sciarrino, Alessandro Solbiati, Peter-Jan Wagemans, Hans Koolmees, Robin de Raaf, Rene Uijlenhoet, Chaya Czernowin, Stefano Gervasoni, Colin Matthews, and Mark-Anthony Turnage. His music has been performed in Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Mexico, Chile, and the United Kingdom.

Bartoli's musical language is primarily centered on post-modernism, incorporating elements of atonal expressionism, a post-serial approach, and the use of limited transposition modes. His influences include Stravinsky, Maderna, Berio, Messiaen, Boulez, Ligeti, and Donatoni. His music is characterized by its restless and impactful nature, with a strong emphasis on the lyrical aspects of melodic lines and/or motives. Fundamental to him is the development of ideas, whether timbral, melodic, or of any other kind, playing a crucial role in the evolution of the composition, in line with the intrinsic characteristics of the ideas themselves.

He is published by Universal Edition. Bartoli has received numerous awards for his compositions, including a competition held by the Tartini of Trieste, earning him a placement at the University of Toronto. He also won a competition organized by Maestro Emmanuele Baldini, artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra of Valdivia (Chile) and Concertmaster of the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (Brazil). In 2018, he received the "National Arts Award – Orchestra category" from the MIUR for the composition "Glitches," inspired by themes of Rossini and Debussy, performed in Rome by ONCI under the direction of Giampaolo Bisanti.

In 2019, Bartoli's chamber opera "Mal di Terra" debuted at the Lauro Rossi Theater in Macerata, produced by the Appassionata association. In another recognition in 2021, his composition "A Blizzard" for piano was selected by the Royal College of Music for representation at the Russian Embassy in London.

In addition to his career as a composer, Bartoli serves as a piano teacher at the "C. Percoto" Music High School in Udine, teaching composition, harmony, theory, and solfeggio.

Simone Tonin is an Italian composer and was born in 1992. At the age of six he began studying piano, then continued at the Conservatory "A.Steffani" in Castelfranco V.to (TV) in the organ and organ composition class with Gianluca Libertucci. At the age of 15 he abandoned the study of organ to begin that of composition at the same institution, in the class of Claudio Scannavini and then continuing his studies with Nicola Straffelini.

He graduated with honors in 2018. He went on to graduate in band orchestration and choral conducting.

In the 2021 edition, he was reported to the 'Guido D'Arezzo' international composition competition. 

His orchestral and chamber works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras, such as Fortepiano trio, AIRES Quartet, Natura Sonoris trio, Orchestra Machiavelli of Verona, Kairos Vox ensemble, Bulgaria Classic Foundation Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

In addition to these ensembles, his works have been performed by leading soloists on the Italian scene.

He's currently active as a composer, arranger and conductor.

Simone Spagnolo’s music has been performed in internationally known venues and festivals such as London's Royal Festival Hall, St.Martin-in-the-Fields, Blackheath Halls, ENO's foyer, Riverside Studios, Tete-a-Tete Festival, Opera in the City Festival, Mumford Theatre, Italian Cultural Institute London, Birmingham Conservatoire, Stanford University, Los Angeles’ Aratani Theatre, Brno’s Janacek Academy, Budapest’s Liszt Academy, Zaragoza’s Conservatorio Superiore, Chongqing University, Hong Kong’s Yuen Long Theatre, Italy’s CEF Festival and Pennsylvania’s Great Lakes Film Festival, among others.

Having composed music for concerts, theatre, opera, ballet, film and multimedia, Spagnolo has received commissioned from institutions and companies such as Trinity Laban Conservatoire, ChinaWest Productions, Opera Viscera, Gray Lady Productions, WOH Productions, Fabergé LTD, Lost Picture Production and Dance Ahead. Artists he has collaborated with include conductors Diego Garcia Rodriguez and Michael Young, musicians Rivka Golani and Gabriele Baldocci, playwrights Roberto Cavosi and Giordano Trischitta, directors Luc Mollinger and Ben Samuels, actors Sasha Waddell and Marco Gambino, choreographers Zoe Gadd and Adam Russell, photographer Valery Katsuba, and creative technologist Michele Panegrossi.

Spagnolo has received numerous awards, including the Asia America Symphony Orchestra Composition Prize and Philip Bates Prize, and in 2011 he has been appointed as artist-in-residence at Bergen's USF Verftet, Norway.

Having gained a Ph.D. in composition at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, Spagnolo currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Composition (BMus and MMus) at the London College of Music, University off West London. Previously, he lectured at Anglia Ruskin University and University of Cumbria, and has guest-lectured at institutions such as the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, University of York and The Purcell School. Also, he was founder and artistic director of The Music Theatre Hub.

Simone Spagnolo's discography includes six albums, available on iTunes and all major online music stores.

Eclectic and multifaceted personality, he ranged in various musical fields: from Rock music to contemporary classical music, from electronic music to musical pedagogy.

He completed his musical studies in Parma, graduating in Instrumentation for Band (1984) and Composition (1985) and in Bologna, graduating in Electronic Music (1997). In Parma he was one of the last pupils of the great master Camillo Togni. He subsequently specialized in composition, at the Fiesole Music School (1989), with another of the greatest composers of the second half of the 20th century, Sylvano Bussotti. He studied conducting with Pero Guarino.

Author of numerous and significant publications on pedagogy and music teaching at prestigious publishing houses, he has taught music pedagogy in various conservatories and has been a member of various technical / scientific commissions and committees of the Ministry of Education. In this regard, he has collaborated in the drafting of important legislative documents related to the reforms of school systems as a technician and disciplinary expert.

From 1998 to 2006 he was active in EU countries - Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain and Poland - holding international workshops as a composer in residence. At the same time as the experience he composed the soundtrack for six musicals.

Currently the catalog of works includes solo, chamber and orchestral music, stage music (children's theater), electro-acoustic and electronic music. Some of his compositions, published by EDIPAN - Rome, BONGIOVANNI - Bologna and DIAPHONIA - Messina, performed in important reviews, have been awarded in national and international composition competitions.

In 2009 he conceived the work in progress with the visionary title of ISOLEDIPENSIERO, a compositional project that has reached its 7 "release which has as its main feature the use and enhancement of vintage electronic synthesizers of exclusive Italian design and manufacture. These instruments are part of a personal collection among the most important in Europe: the magazine MAT2020 dedicated an article-interview - "The keyboards you don't expect" - published in the January 2020 issue, and subsequently published in the book "Suite Rock - the Prog between past and future "by A. Enrile and O. Lacagnina, published by Graphofeel, Rome 2020. The style is characterized by Kosmische musik veins that intertwine and contaminate with spectrum-morphological music, in a new creative proposal whose timbre / stylistic figure is that of a renewed electronic music with an ancient color.

He is currently a teacher of "theory of harmony and analysis" at the A. Boito Conservatory in Parma.

Born in Modena in 1970. Master degrees in Composition in Conservatory of Modena and Conducting in Conservatory of Bologna. He started his career as a correpetitor and then as a conductor (Italy, South Corea, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine). He wrote two musicals for kids (Ancona 2001 and 2003, Teatro Sperimentale). Two one-act operas (Alice; Teatro Piccolo Regio di Torino 2005 and 2006; Gelsomino nel Paese dei Bugiardi - winner of Fedora prize in 2010). In 2021 Teatro Comunale "L. Pavarotti" in Modena commissioned him "Sisifo" for Actors, clarinets and piano, for the season 2020-2021. He also collaborated as an arranger at the soundtracks of: "The butler" (2013 Lee Daniel's movie), "Birdman" (Best Movie at the Oscars in 2015), Mom and Dad (2017, with Nicholas Cage). In 2021 he wrote along with Moon Unit Zappa "Farewell Lullaby" premiered by Ramin Bahrami. With Moon Zappa he also wrote "Unintended consequences", premiered in 2024 by Quantum Clarinet Trio.

Described as “a wondrously eclectic talent” in Jazz Journal (UK), Stefano Travaglini is a pianist and composer mostly interested in the fascinating world of improvisation. He has released four albums: The Hungarian Songbook (2013) in which he freely improvises over ancient magyar melodies, Ellipse, solo piano (2017), recorded in Oslo at Rainbow Studio, the result of an hour-long free recording session, considered “a masterwork of improvised music” and “one of the best improvised works of 2017” (All About Jazz), The long line, Two pianos (2019), with pianist M. Coclite, produced by american label Odradek Records and the latest solo album Monk, Fifteen piano reflections (2020), recorded in Paris, dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk. He also graduated in Oboe, Composition and Conducting, having started playing piano at very young age, and has performed in numerous countries around the world. As a leader, Travaglini has toured with his own Quintet and DayDream Trio almost playing original music. The Hungarian Songbook duo (with magyar singer F. Halmos) has performed widely in Europe and America. In 2013 the duo was also one of the 23 finalists at the Terem Crossover International Competition in St. Petersburg. In 2018 Travaglini was a finalist at the renewed Scrivere in Jazz International Competition in Composition and Arrangement for Jazz Orchestra (Sassari, Italy) presenting a work called Miserere inspired by traditional music from Sardinia.

www.stefanotravaglini.com