Lorenzo Ferrero

Who is Lorenzo Ferrero?

Lorenzo Ferrero (born 1951 in Turin) is a contemporary Italian composer of orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal music, with a predilection for opera. He studied composition with Massimo Bruni and Enore Zaffiri at Turin Music Conservatory and earned in 1974 a degree in aesthetics from the University of Turin with a thesis on John Cage. Between 1972 and 1974 he did research on electronic music in France and Germany, at IMEB Bourges, IRCAM Paris, and at the Musik/Dia/Licht/Film-Galerie in Munich. He has received commissions from numerous festivals and institutions, his works being constantly performed at major theatres in Italy, Germany, France, Great Britain, United States, Finland and the Czech Republic. In 1986 he was awarded the "Premio Italia" for his stage work "La fuga di Foscolo." His most popular compositions include the operas "Marilyn," "La figlia del mago," "Mare nostro," and "La conquista," the "Piano Concerto," "Triple Concerto," "Capriccio," the set of six symphonic poems "La nueva Espana," "Canzoni d'amore," "Parodia," "Ostinato," "Tempi di quartetto," "Glamorama Spies," and the ballet "Franca Florio, regina di Palermo." In addition to a large number of original works, he completed the orchestration of the third version of the opera "La rondine" by Giacomo Puccini, composed the anthem for the Sestriere Ski World Championship opening ceremony of 1997, wrote a part of the "Requiem per le vittime della mafia," incidental music for stage productions, film scores and books. Lorenzo Ferrero is an active opera conductor and manager of art events, who has served as artistic director of the "Festival Puccini," "Unione Musicale," "Arena di Verona," "Musica 2000," "Festa della Musica," and "Ravello Festival." In 2007 he was appointed on the board of directors of SIAE, the Italian Authors and Publishers Association, and published the "Manuale di scrittura musicale." In 2008 he translated, edited and published "Lo studio dell'orchestrazione," a landmark orchestration manual. He features in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera," "The Italian Opera since 1945," and "The New Penguin Opera Guide" as a " principal exponent of the neo-tonal tendencies." Currently, Lorenzo Ferrero is professor of composition at Milan Conservatory, vice-president of SIAE, and one of Italy's leading contemporary composers.

Famous Quotes:

• "No music book has ever succeeded in miraculously replacing the listening experience."
• "Seldom have I found in the ritual music of the Catholic church a quality so convincing that there is no need to mourn the past. Without going into a complicated maze of aesthetics, we can define quality as a certain something which is not inferior to what the external world offers, such as to render every Christian proud of his own music."