Luigi Ceccarelli (born 20 April 1953 in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) is an Italian composer.AA.VV. "Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti", diretto da Alberto Basso, Volume appendice 2005, UTET, Torino, 2004, p. 111, .

Biography

Luigi Ceccarelli completed his musical studies in the ‘70s at the

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

Conservatory of Pesaro (Italy) where he studied Electronic Music and Composition with Walter Branchi, Giuliano Zosi and Guido Baggiani. His career as a composer began in 1975, and was strongly influenced by digital technology and research into Sound Spatialisation. In addition to his exclusively musical work right from the start he dedicated a significant part of his professional activity to

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...

, contemporary dance, cinema and visual arts. After moving to Rome in 1978 he began to collaborate with the ''Gruppo di lavoro intercodice - ALTRO'' (inter-codex work-group), an artistic association led by the painter Achille Perilli, and during this period his contacts with artists in various other disciplines allowed him to develop forms of music that were closely related to the visual arts and the theater. With ALTRO he wrote and performed the music for the performance ''Abominable A'', which was staged at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. In 1981 ALTRO became a dance company with the name of AltroTeatro and, with the choreographer Lucia Latour, Ceccarelli wrote and performed the music for the group’s performances until 1994. These included the show Anihccam dedicated to the Futurist artist

Fortunato Depero Fortunato Depero (30 March 1892 – 29 November 1960) was an Italian Futurism (art), futurist painter, writer, sculptor, and graphic designer. Biography Although born in Fondo or in the neighboring village of Malosco, according to other sou ...

and staged at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, which launched Ceccarelli’s international career. In 1994 he made the radio-film (a story told only with sounds and music) ''La Guerra dei Dischi'' (The War of the Records), which was commissioned by

Rai Radio 3 Rai Radio 3 (''radio tre'') is an Italian radio channel operated by the state-owned public-broadcasting organization RAI and specializing in culture and classical music. It is currently directed by Andrea Montanari. Founded on 1 October 1950 a ...

and based on a text by

Stefano Benni Stefano Benni (born 12 August 1947) is an Italian satirical writer, poet and journalist. His books have been translated into around 20 foreign languages and scored notable commercial success. 2.5 million copies of his books have been sold in Ita ...

. This was the beginning of Ceccarelli’s research into the relationship between music and recited texts, which led the composer to create a series of radio plays and audio plays for

. In 1996 his work ''Birds'' for bass clarinet and birdsong was awarded the first prize in the competition of the IMEB ( Institut international de musique électroacoustique de Bourges - France). This institution then invited Ceccarelli to work in Bourges and commissioned various electroacoustic works from him, including ''De Zarb à Daf'' for Iranian percussion instruments. At the end of the ‘90s Ceccarelli founded

Edison Studio Edison Studio is a collective of composers and an electroacoustic music ensemble. It was founded in Rome in 1993 by the composers Mauro Cardi, Luigi Ceccarelli, Fabio Cifariello Ciardi e Alessandro Cipriani. Since more than 20 years Edison St ...

together with the composers Alessandro Cipriani,

Mauro Cardi Mauro Cardi (born July 22, 1955, in Rome, Italy) is an Italian composer. Biography Trained at the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatoire of Rome, under the guidance of Irma Ravinale, Gino Marinuzzi jr., Guido Turchi, he graduated in composition, instr ...

and Fabio Cifariello Ciardi with whom he created various soundtracks for silent movies from the second and third decades of the 20th century. These soundtracks, performed live by the composers themselves during screenings of the films, have included those for four particularly important movies:

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Blackmail and

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

. The

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

s with the soundtracks of

realized by Edison Studio were released in 2011 by the

Cineteca di Bologna The Cineteca di Bologna is a film archive in Bologna, Italy. It was founded on 18 May 1962. Since 1989, it has been a member of the Fédération internationale des archives du film (FIAF). It has been a member of the Association des cinémath ...

(in the series Cinema ritrovato).Cinema Ritrovato
/ref> Ceccarelli’s particular interest in the relationship between music and film have led him to carry out intensive studies on contemporary cinema and in 2007 he published an article on Stanley Kubrick's

Eyes Wide Shut ''Eyes Wide Shut'' is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella '' Traumnovelle'' (''Dream Story'') by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's set ...

. Starting from 2000, he realized a series of compositions for musical theater and

site-specific art Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...

installations for the

Ravenna Festival The Ravenna Festival is a summer festival of opera and classical music (as well as dance, jazz, ethnic, musical theater, ballett, sacred music, electronic music, drama, film, plus conventions and exhibitions) held in the city of Ravenna, Italy and t ...

, including In Die Resurrectionis, for the Basilica of San Vitale (

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

) and Bianco Nero Piano Forte, in collaboration with the photographers Lelli & Masotti and the writer Mara Cantoni, which was located in the

Biblioteca Classense The Biblioteca Classense is the public library of Ravenna, Italy. In 1803, with the Napoleonic suppression of monasteries and religious institutions, a library was created to harbor the confiscated books. They were housed in the Library of the Ca ...

. Also beginning in 2000 Ceccarelli began an artistic collaboration with the Teatro delle Albe, culminating with two works of musical theater, ''L’isola di Alcina'' (The Island of Alcina) and ''Ouverture Alcina'', with a text by Nevio Spadoni in Romagnol dialect. These two creations were staged in Italy, as well as in several European cities (Paris, Berlin, Moscow) and in New York. Another work of musical theater that Ceccarelli realized in the same period was the ''Requiem'' staged by the theater company Fanny & Alexander and performed for the first time at the

in 2001. For these works he received the Italian Theater Critics Award of the ''Premio UBU'' (an award where the jury consists of the reviewers in the most important Italian newspapers and magazines) in 2002 (which on that occasion was awarded to a musician for the first time), as well as the prize of

Belgrade International Theatre Festival The Belgrade International Theatre Festival (abbr. BITEF) is a theatre festival that takes place every September annually in Belgrade, Serbia. History Founded in 1967, BITEF has continually followed and supported the latest theatre trends. It h ...

(Serbia) and that of the MESS International Theatre Festival of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

. During this period Ceccarelli continued to compose music for dance performances, and he composed the music for ''Live*'' with the Norwegian dance company ''Wee/Francesco Scavetta''. From 2009 to 2011 he worked with the South African choreographer

Robyn Orlin Robyn Orlin (born 1955) is a South African dancer and choreographer, born in Johannesburg. Nicknamed in South Africa "a permanent irritation", she is well known for reflecting the difficult and complex realities in her country. Integrating diffe ...

and in collaboration with Alessandro Cipriani he created the music for several dance performances including ''Have you hugged kissed and respected your brown Venus today?'', which was staged at the

Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Incl ...

in Paris and the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. In 2012 Ceccarelli met the double-bass player Daniel Roccato and with him he established an improvisational duo with the double-bass as a source for the electronic processing of sound in real time. In 2013 he returned to composing for the cinema and with Alessandro Cipriani he made the music for the film by Michel Comte ''The Girl from Nagasaki'', a reworking of Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly set in the '60s, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014. Luigi Ceccarelli’s works have been released on CD by RaiTrade, CNI, Luca Sossella Editore, Edipan, BMG-Ariola, Newtone Gmeb / UNESCO / Cime and the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. Since 1979 he has been the head professor of Electronic Music Composition at the Conservatory of Perugia.

Catalogue of main works

Musical theatre

* ''Ouverture Alcina'' (2004/2009) - text Nevio Spadoni, directed by

Marco Martinelli Marco Martinelli (born 9 October 1965, in Rovereto, Trentino) is an Italian former volleyball player, who later became a volleyball coach. He earned a total number of 155 caps for the Men's National Team, and made his debut on 22 May 1987 in Mo ...

* ''+/- '' (2009) - directed by Luigi De Angelis-Fanny & Alexander * ''Tupac Amaru, la deconquista, il Pachacuti'' (1997/2007) - on a text by Gianni Toti * ''La Mano, de profundis rock'' (2005) – on a text by Luca Doninelli, directed by

* ''Francesca da Rimini'' (2004) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena Bucci * ''Galla Placidia'' (2003) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena Bucci * ''Requiem'' (2001) - directed by Luigi de Angelis * ''L’isola di Alcina'' (2000) – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by

* ''Esercizi di Patologia'' (1995/1997) – on a text by

Valerio Magrelli Valerio Magrelli (born 1957, Rome) is an Italian poet. He graduated in philosophy at the University of Rome and is an expert in French literature which he has taught and teaches at University of Pisa and University of Cassino. He debuted as an a ...

* ''Macchine Virtuose'' (1993/1994) – a staged concert by Gianfranco Lucchino * ''Isla Coco'' (1985/1987) - with ElectraVox Ensemble. * music for ''Abominable A'' (1979) – with "Altro, gruppo di lavoro intercodice"

Electroacoustic music

* ''X-Traces'' (2011/2013) - with Daniele Roccato - for double bass and live electronics * ''Il contatore di nuvole'' (2012) – for piano and samples of prepared piano * ''I luoghi comuni non sono segnati sulle carte'' - with

, on a text by

* ''Armonia dell’ascendente'' (2011) - with the Tibetan monks of the Drepung Loseling monastery * ''Cadenza'' (2011) –

acousmatic music Acousmatic music (from Greek ἄκουσμα ''akousma'', "a thing heard") is a form of electroacoustic music that is specifically ''composed'' for presentation using speakers, as opposed to a live performance. It stems from a compositional trad ...

* ''Birds'' (1995/2011) – for bass clarinet, samples of bass clarinet and birdsongs * ''Quattro pezzi su poesie di Giovanni Pascoli'' (2003/2007): Notte d’Inverno, nella Nebbia, l’Uccellino del Freddo, le Rane – for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, text from four poems by

Giovanni Pascoli Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli (; 31 December 1855 – 6 April 1912) was an Italian poet, classical scholar and an emblematic figure of Italian literature in the late nineteenth century. Alongside Gabriele D'Annunzio, he was one of the great ...

* ''Neuromante'' (1991/2007) - for

alto sax The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B ten ...

and elaborated sounds of sax * ''Quanti'' (1991/2007) - for clarinet and elaborated sounds of clarinets * ''Anima di Metallo'' (1990/2007) - for three percussionists and elaborated sounds of percussions * ''Exsultet'' (1996/2007) - for choir of

gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...

and electronic elaboration * ''Cadenza esplosa'' (2006) -

acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French ''acousmatique'', is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary p ...

piece * ''Inferi'' (2001) - for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, on a text by Mara Cantoni * ''In die resurrectionis'' (1999) - for choir of

and electronic elaboration * ''Respiri'' (1999) - for

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

and elaborated samples of horn * ''A propos de la chambre a coucher de Philippe II dans l’église de l’Escorial'' (1998) - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by

* ''De zarb a daf'' (1996) - for zarb, daf, and sampled sounds of zarb and daf * ''Aracne'' (1996) - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by Guido Barbieri * ''Luce-ombra'' (from Anihccam),(1995) - for string quartet and samples of strings * ''Aleph con zero'' (1993/1994) - for two pianos, two marimbas and sampled sounds * ''Discussione del 3000'' (from Anihccam) (1992) - for two percussionists and sampled sounds of voice * ''Aura in visibile'' (1991/1992) - for flute, piano and vibrating exciters * ''Etaoin shrdlu'' (1985) - for

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

and live electronics - with Marcello Federici * ''Titanic & Icarus spa'' (1984) - for amplified cymbals and tam-tams, and vibrating exciters * ''Incontro con Rama'' (1982) - for trombone and live electronics * ''Koramachine'' (1981) - for violin with ringmodulator and seven amplified instruments * ''Il contingente cambia colore'' (1975) – for magnetic tape

Soundtracks for cinema

* music for ''The Girl from Nagasaki'' (2013) - with Alessandro Cipriani – a film by

Michel Comte Michel Comte (born 19 February 1954) is a Swiss artist, filmmaker, fashion and portrait photographer. His most recent art project �Light��, focuses on the impact of environmental decline through his large-scale installations, paintings, sculpture ...

(2013) editions M4 Films * music for ''Blackmail'' (2013) - with

– a film by Alfred Hitchcock (1929) * music for ''Inferno'' (2008) - with

– a film by Francesco Bertolini e Adolfo Padovan (1911) * music for ''Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari'' (2003) – with

– a film by Robert Wiene (1919) * music for ''Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei'' (2001) – with

– a film by Eleuterio Ridolfi (1913) * music for ''Opus II'' (1997) – a film by

Walter Ruttmann Walter Ruttmann (28 December 1887 – 15 July 1941) was a German cinematographer and film director, an important German abstract experimental film maker, along with Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger. He is best known for dire ...

(1921) * music for ''Filmstudie'' (1997) – a film by Hans Richter (1926)

Audiovisual works and installations

* ''Pic'' (2009/2011)) – video * ''Bianco Nero Piano Forte'' (2000/2009) – installation - proses and verses by Mara Cantoni, images by Lelli & Masotti

Works for radio

* music for ''La Commedia della Vanità'' (1998) – by

Elias Canetti Elias Canetti (; bg, Елиас Канети; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her ...

, adapted and directed by Giorgio Pressburgher * ''I Viaggi in Tasca, 20 luoghi mentali'' (1995) – on twenty texts by

* ''La Guerra dei Dischi'' (1994) – on a text by

Music for dance

* music for ''… Have you hugged, kissed and respected your brown Venus today?'' (2011) – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by

* ''Strangely Enough'' (2010) – with Daniele Roccato and Wee Company – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''With astonishment I note the dog (revisited)'' (2009) – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by

* ''Hey dude, let’s stick around a bit longer this time'' (2005/2008) – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''A Glimpse of Hope'' (2008) – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka Flory * music for ''Margine Buio'' (2007) – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka Flory * ''Live*'' (2002) – choreography by Francesco Scavetta * music for ''Tre Soli Italiani'' (2000) – three choreographyes by Francesco Scavetta, Monica Francia and Antonio Montanile * ''Naturalmente Tua'' (1992) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Anihccam'', (1989) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''On y Tombe on n’y Tombe'' (1988) – with Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Frilli Troupe'' (1986) – con Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''La Lu La'' (1984) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Spatium Teca'' (1982) – choreography by Lucia Latour * ''Porte à Faux'', (1981) – choreography by Lucia Latour

Main CD and DVD

Monographic CD

* ''La Mano'' (2006)– Luca Sossella editions * ''Exsultet'' (2005) – Rai Trade editions RTC006 * ''L’isola di Alcina'' (2000) – Ravenna Teatro editions CD 01/00 * ''Macchine Virtuose'' (1996) - Edipan editions CCD 3062 * ''La guerra dei Dischi/Naturalmente Tua'' (1995) – Edipan editions CCD 3054 * ''Anihccam'' AA.VV. "Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti", edite by Alberto Basso, Volume ''I titoli e i personaggi'', UTET, Torino, 1999, p. 85, . (1992) – BMG-Ariola editions CCD 3005

CD and DVD with Edison Studio

* ''Inferno'' (2011) – DVD Il Cinema Ritrovato editions –

* ''Edison Studio'' (2007) – DVD Auditorium editions EdiLDC278 1139/40 * ''Zarbing'' (2005) – CD edition La Frontiera LFDL 18401 – RaiTrade editions RTP00902005

References

Bibliography

* AA.VV., item "Luigi Ceccarelli", in ''Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti'', edited by Alberto Basso, Volume appendice 2005, UTET, Torino, 2004, p. 111, . * AA.VV., item "Anihccam", in ''Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti'', edited by Alberto Basso, Volume ''I titoli e i personaggi'', UTET, Torino, 1999, p. 85, .

External links

Luigi Ceccarelli official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceccarelli, Luigi Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Avant-garde composers 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers 1953 births Living people Electroacoustic music composers 20th-century Italian composers People from Rimini 20th-century Italian male musicians 21st-century Italian male musicians