Luca Francesconi

Luca Francesconi, Italy - member of the composition jury 2015

Born in Milan in 1956, Luca Francesconi studied in Milan with Azio Corghi, in Boston with Karlheinz Stockhausen and in Rome with and Luciano Berio, to whom he became assistant. His work is prolific (close to one hundred pieces) and wide-ranging (from solo to orchestra, multimedia to opera).

He has received many international awards and prizes, including the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis in Darmstadt in 1990, Siemens Prize in 1994 and Prix Italia in 1994. In 1990, he founded the AGON institute in Milan, a center for music research and production using new technologies, which he directed until 2006. Highly esteemed professor, he taught for years within Italian conservatories and is currently director of the composition department at the Musikhögskolan in Malmö, Sweden.

Luca Francesconi regularly collaborates with leading international interpreters and the world’s most prestigious orchestras, also working as a conductor. He was director of the Venice Biennale international music festival between 2008 and 2012 and was appointed artistic consultant in 2011. In 2012, he became director of the Ultima Festival in Oslo. In 2013, he was Composer in residence at the Casa do Musica in Porto.

He has composed radio-operas for the RAI, electronic music, concertos (for oboe, trumpet, cello), chamber music and vocal music, often commissionned by prestigious artists and internationally renowned ensembles. His latest works include the opera Quartett, after Heiner Müller, Herzstück, composed for the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Oratorio Atopia. All three have met great success and have received positive reviews.

Long biography (Casa Ricordi website)