Bio

LUCIO GREGORETTI

Professional Resume

Lucio Gregoretti, composer, was born in 1961 in Rome. He studied composition with Mauro Bortolotti and music history with Bruno Cagli at the Conservatorio Statale di Musica Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he obtained his diploma in composition. He also attended seminars and courses in composition with Luciano Berio, and Ennio Morricone as well as courses in conducting with Franco Ferrara, and Giampiero Taverna. He has been in residency at a number of international institutions including Künstlerhäuser Worpswede in Germany, Sacatar Foundation in Brazil, The MacDowell Colony and Copland House in the US. These residencies have been crucial for him to achieve international contacts and collaborations with artists from various disciplines and cultural backgrounds.

He has composed stage works, symphonic and chamber music, and electro-acoustic music.

His operas have been commissioned and successfully performed by well-known institutions including Theater Münster (Germany, 2013), Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto (2012), Teatro Massimo (Palermo, 2011), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (2009), Teatro Gaetano Donizetti di Bergamo (2005), and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, Teatro Valle, 1999); as well as by Associazione In Canto (2013), Associazione Roma Sinfonietta (2007), Teatro Sociale di Rovigo (1996); additional productions of his operas have been staged by Piccolo Festival del Friuli Venezia Giulia (2008), Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese (L’Aquila, 2007), Solistes Européens Luxembourg (2006), Teatro Massimo di Palermo (2000).

His concert works have been commissioned and performed by a number of institutions, such as Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (Rome, 2015 and 2008), Accademia Filarmonica romana (2014), Orchestra della Toscana (2012), Festival Pergolesi Spontini (Jesi, 2011), Associazione Nuova Consonanza (Rome 2007, 2010, 2011), Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti (Naples, 2006, and 2007), Istituzione Sinfonica Abruzzese (2007), I Solisti di Perugia (2006), Nuovi Spazi Musicali (Rome, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2011), Progetto Sonora (Cologne, 2003), Todi Music Fest (2002), Klangspectrum (Villach, 1998); and they are regularly performed world-wide in contemporary music festivals.

In 2013 the ensemble Music from Copland House and the ensemble Compania für Neue Musik dedicated two tribute concerts to his chamber music in New York and in Cologne respectively. On March 2012, in Rome, the ensemble Gruppo Strumentale Musica d’Oggi of the Orchestra Roma Sinfonietta dedicated him a portrait concert.

He is always been interested on the interaction of music with visual arts composing music inspired by artworks (as the piano piece Looking up, which is related to a sculpture of Ilya Kabakov), and collaborating with artists as Stefano Iraci, Vittorio Pavoncello, and Beatrice Pediconi for video-art works and audio-visual installations.

Furthermore, he is author of a vast production of film scores, incidental music for theater plays, and musical comedies, including recent scores for films by directors Pupi Avati, Carlo Lizzani, Margarethe von Trotta, and Lina Wertmüller.

His works are published by Rai Trade and Suvini Zerboni, and released on CD by CNI, Rai Trade – Ducale, Vdm.

Among recent activities one could mention:

– The site specific perfornance Walking Away for two violinists was premiered in Rome on April 23, 2015 for the opening of the exibition Cosa credi che vedrei se potessi allontanarmi da me? by German artist Edith Urban at “Centro Luigi Di Sarro”; Stefano Minore and Leonardo Alessandrini – violins.

– Gelbe Begleitung (inspired to a painding by Kandinsky) for six instruments, commissioned by Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, was premiered in Rome, on January 16, 2015, by ensemble Sentieri selvaggi cunducted by Carlo Boccadoro, in the Accademia di santa Cecilia chamber season.

– Riflessi di Psiche on text by Alberto Savinio, ccommissioned by Accademia Filarmonica romana, was premiered in Rome, on November 30, 2014, by soprano Susanne Bungaard and Ensemble Roman Vlad conducted by Gabriele Bonolis.

– On October 9, 2014 his ultimate music – theater work Il primo giorno di scuola, on a libretto by Giobbe Covatta, inaugurated the 35° Festival “Nuovi Spazi Musicali” at Ventidio Basso Theater in Ascoli Piceno. Susanne Bungaard – soprano, Giobbe Covatta – actor, Nyky ensemble, Lucio Gregoretti – conductor.

– The piece Richiami, commissioned by the ensemble Music from Copland House, was successfully premiered on March 3, 2013 in Mount Kisko, NY on a concert dedicated to Lucio Gregoretti, featuring some of his chamber works, within the season “Copland House at Merestead”. On this occasion, the composer has been invited by the Copland House Inc. (Cortlandt Manor, NY) to lecture conferences and a masterclass in composition while being offered a residency at the Copland House.

– In April – May 2013, the Theater Münster in Germany staged a new production of his opera La fugitive (2009), on a libretto by Daniel Goldenberg, focused on the current drama of refugees escaping from wars and poverty. It was the world premiere of the 2013 German version of the opera entitled Flüchtling. On the occasion, on May 8, 2013 in Cologne, at the Italian Culture Institute, the ensemble Compania für Neue Musik of the Sinfonieorchester Münster performed a portrait concert of Lucio Gregoretti’s chamber music, including Immaginario esteso, a world premiered composition commissioned by the ensemble. The concert was replied on May 10 in Münster.

– His “graphical score” Unlimited quartet (2013) has been successfully presented on October 5 in Reggio Emilia at the Collezione Maramotti on the occasion of the video installation 9’/Unlimited by Beatrice Pediconi, for which the score has been expressly composed.

– His last music-theater work, the “intermezzo” Gli errori di Amadè (2013), on a libretto by Vincenzo De Vivo, had its world premiere on October 10, 2013 staged by “Operaincanto” in Terni, with great acclaim by critics and audiences alike.

– Andante italiano alla belga (a stage opera dramatically focused on the topics of immigration and emigration) on a libretto by Mario Perrotta, commissioned by the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto, which has been premiered by the OT.Li.S. conducted by Marco Angius in September 2012, with great acclaim.

(last update May 2015)