Massimiliano Messieri (born 1964 in

Bologna, Italy Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

) is a

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and scholar with a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in composition,

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

, and

violoncello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...

. He was selected to take part in specialization courses in composition at the Music Academy of Fiesole held by G. Manzoni (1991–1992) and at the Academie d’Eté of the

IRCAM IRCAM (French: ''Ircam, '', English: Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music) is a French institute dedicated to the research of music and sound, especially in the fields of avant garde and electro-acoustical art music. It is ...

held by T. Murail and P. Manoury (Paris, 1993–1994).

Interests

Messieri is interested in

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

s, and has focused his music research in particular on the interaction among these arts. He has composed several ballets with the Chorea Dance Company, including ''Espressione I'' (Bologna, 1994), ''Quintetto'' (Bergamo, 1994), ''Tarkìz'' (Bologna, 1995), and ''Cabaret Selvaggio'' (Milan, 1999) with the Pierpaolo Koss

Dance Company A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different styles of dan ...

Main works

1988 ''6 Miniature'' for clarinet and piano 1990 ''Metamorfosi'' for solo piano 1991 ''La rosa del deserto'' ballet in 6 pictures for female voice, instrumental group and live electronics 1992 ''Hauptweg und nebenwege'' for symphony orchestra, piano and live electronics 1993 ''Espressione I'' for alto sax, live electronics and tape 1994 ''...Ans torn...'' for soprano and flute 1995 ''Les rêves de la couleur'' for large orchestra and tape 1996 ''Vita lux erat'' for alto sax and percussions 1997 ''Virus'' double concerto for violin, piano and symphony orchestra 1998 ''Don Giovanni il dissoluto redento'' Tafel Opera for solos, video installations (artist Daniela Carati), ensemble, live electronics, digital tape and guests 1999 ''Cabaret selvaggio'' seven musical pictures for 5 dancers and digital tape 2000 ''Leonids’ play'' for 5 audio CDs and 10 speakers 2001 ''La femme battue'' IX capriccio per violoncello solo (dall’opera Zadig, 21 capricci) 2002 ''Sojourn in Leipzig – Portraits'' 12 portraits for cello and piano 2003 ''Die Märchenprinzfantasien'' for alto saxophone and digital tape 2004 ''Gretchens Träum'' melodrama in one act for 4 actresses, 2 saxophones, live electronics and digital tape 2005 ''Das Klangkarussell'' for solo piano 2006 ''Jack in the box – La scatola magica di Mefisto'' chamber delirium suite, loosely based on the homonymous story by Fabrizio Boggiano, for musician, video projections, saxophone (soprano and alto), digital audio and live electronics 2007 ''am Kreuzweg deiner Sinne'' duo for clarinet and piano 2008 ''Forever'' for soprano saxophone, triangle and live electronics 2009 ''Piuma di cielo'' for flute, violin, cello, harp and piano 2010 ''Quartetto No.2'' for string quartet 2011 ''Fantasia for Xiao Dong Wei'' fantasy for erhu and ensemble 2012 ''Liriche Sacre'' eleven verses from the Old Testament for alto and string quartet 2013 ''Hot Strings II'' (new version) capriccio for four harps 2014 ''Land'' prelude for four harps 2015 ''A.H.'' fantasy for three cellos, conductor, interactive system and live electronics 2016 ''ALICE'' opera in 2 acts 2017 ''Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita'' small fantasy for string orchestra, triangle and piano 2018 ''BET'' concerto grosso for soprano, 4 cellos and violoncello orchestra 2019 ''TAV'' psalm for 4 percussionists and electronics 2020 ''12 Haiku'' for solo piano 2021 ''Fantasia Concertante'' for piano and string orchestra

Main Commissions

In 1997, the International Festival Italian Mozart Association (IFIMA) in

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

commissioned him, under the aegis of the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, the work ''Don Giovanni, the redeemed rake'' (1998). In 2000, the National Research Institute for Material Physics (INFM) commissioned Messieri, for the INFMeeting 2000, to write the work ''Leonids’ Play'' (composition for 5

magnetic tape Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magne ...

s based on the real sound of the

Leonids The Leonids ( ) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, which are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant i ...

provided by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

). In 2004, Messieri was commissioned to compose the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

''Gretchens Traum'', performed at the

Ettersburg Ettersburg is a municipality in the Weimarer Land district of Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

Castle in Weimar, Germany. in 2008, Xiao Dong Wei commissioned him ''Capriccio for Xiao Dong'' for solo erhu, which will be played in 2013 in the version for ehru and ensemble (''Fantasia for Xiao Dong Wei'') for ArtX Detroit at the Max M. Fisher Music Center,

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

(Xiao Dong Wei, erhu; DSO Chamber Ensemble and Yuki Mack, piano) In 2012, the Cracow Philharmonic String Quartet commissioned hi
''Liriche Sacre''
(eleven verses of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

for alto and string quartet) that it is played the same year at the

Cracovia Cracovia is the Latin name for the Polish city of Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh cen ...

Sacra Festival (Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 15 August 2012). In 2018 the Mascagni Conservatory of Music in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

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; Maestro Gabriele Micheli, conductor); in the same year Nicola Baroni commissioned him ''BET'' (Concerto grosso for soprano, 4 cellos and violoncello orchestra) for the Modern Festival of the Teatro Comunale in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

CDs

He recorded with Duo Messieri/Selva two audio CD's: "''Noises X''" (Drycastle Records, 2007) and "''MA$KEN''" (Drycastle Records, 2009). In 2017, he recorded with his friend Nicola Baroni, for the record label Amadeus Arte, "''Zadig''" 21 Capricios for solo cello (also hypercello), where Nicola Baroni also writes the Max/Msp System for hypercello. 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 Amadeus Arte Label.

External links

Massimiliano Messieri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messieri 1964 births Living people Musicians from Bologna Italian composers Italian male composers Contemporary music