An Italian composer born March 17, 1959 in Milan.
While studying the piano at the Milan Conservatory Luca Francesconi studied composition with Azio Corghi, subsequently taking advanced classes with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Rome then with Luciano Berio in Tanglewood, being the latter’s assistant from 1981 to 1984. He is the composer of more than 70 works, in very different genres – from solo pieces (Animus III, 2008) to the orchestral repertory (Wanderer, 1998-1999; Cobalt Scarlet, 1999-2000) and including opera (Buffa opera, 2002; Gesualdo considered as a murderer, 2004) – in which can be found, greatly mixed up, his interest in jazz, electronic music and multimedia. His output, several times honoured by international awards including the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis (Darmstadt, 1990), the Förderpreis der Ernst-von-Siemens-Musikstiftung (Munich, 1994) and the Prix Italia, has also found distinction in the institutional and pedagogical domains. The founder, in 1990, of the AGON Institute, a production and musical research centre for new technologies, Luca Francesconi has taught for a quarter century in Italy and all over the world with his many masterclasses. Appointed director of the Biennale of Venice for 2008 to 2012, he currently heads the composition department of the Music High School in Malmö.
