Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts continues its 2021-22 Composer Portraits series with Luca Francesconi. Ensemble Signal, in their first live ensemble concert since COVID, performs two large-scale premieres by the Italian composer whose work Brad Lubman has often conducted in Europe.
The event is on Thursday, February 3, 8:00 PM at the Miller Theatre (2960 Broadway at 116th Street).
Tickets start at $20 ($10 for students with a valid ID).
Luca Francesconi, born in Milan, studied piano at the Milan Conservatory and composition with Azio Corghi, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio. He also spent a period in Boston studying jazz. He was an assistant to Berio from 1981-84. In 1990 he founded Agon Acustica Informatica Musica, a center for music research and production in Milan.
Francesconi has written more than a hundred works-ranging from solo to large orchestral pieces, from opera to multimedia-and commissioned and performed all over the world. He collaborates regularly with leading conductors, soloists, and ensembles. He has composed five radio operas and several works of music theatre including Ballata (La Monnaie, Brussels); Gesualdo Considered as a Murderer for the Holland Festival; Quartett (2011) based on the play by Heiner Müller, commissioned by Teatro alla Scala/Wiener Festwochen (director Àlex Ollé / Fura dels Baus, conductor Susanna Mälkki). Quartett has been performed more than 80 times since its premiere around the world. His more recent opera is Trompe-la-Mort (after Balzac). It was staged at Opéra National de Paris in 2017 (director Guy Cassiers, conductor Susanna Mällki).
Works in his wide catalogue include: Etymo for soprano, live electronics, and chamber orchestra (Kairos CD with Ensemble intercontemporain and
Barbara Hannigan); Wanderer for large orchestra commissioned by Filarmonica della Scala and conducted by Riccardo Muti; Cobalt, Scarlet commissioned by Mariss Jansson for the Oslo Philharmonic and performed frequently by orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Hard Pace, a trumpet concerto for Håkan Hardenberger commissioned by The Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano, along with ZaterdagMatinee Concertgebouw, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and MITO SettembreMusica; Unexpected End of Formula, a cello concerto commissioned and performed by Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne and dedicated to Helmut Lachenmann.
In recent years Francesconi wrote: Duende, The Dark Notes (2013), a violin concerto for Leila Josefowicz commissioned by the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the BBC Proms, RAI National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Susanna Mällki; Piano Concerto (2013) for Nicolas Hodges commissioned by Casa da Música (Porto); Dentro non ha tempo (2014), an orchestra piece commissioned by Teatro alla Scala and performed under Esa-Pekka Salonen; Vertical Invader (2015) written for Calefax reed quintet and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and premiered at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw; Macchine in echo (2015), a concerto for GrauSchumacher Piano Duo commissioned by WDR, Musica, and the Wiener Konzerthaus/Ernst von Siemens Foundation, and premiered in Cologne; and Bread, Water and Salt (2015) for choir and orchestra inspired by
Nelson Mandela, co-commissioned by Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Radio France and premiered in Rome under Antonio Pappano. Daedalus (2017) for flute and ensemble was commissioned by the
Daniel Barenboim Foundation with a world premiere (Boulez Saal, Berlin) performed by Emmanuel Pahud and the Boulez Ensemble under the baton of
Daniel Barenboim (January 2018). Das Ding singt, a concerto for cello and orchestra, was commissioned by Lucerne Festival and written for Jay Campbell with Matthias Pintcher as conductor (2017). We Wept, for mezzo-soprano and ensemble, was written for the London Sinfonietta conducted by George Benjamin (2018). Trauma Études was written for Ensemble Signal and premiered in Washington D.C., under the baton of Brad Lubman (2019). Zero Formula, his recent work for electric guitar and orchestra was premiered by the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa in Lisbon (2019), with conductor Pedro Amaral and soloist Ruben Mattia Santorsa. Future projects include Timon of Athens, an opera for the Bayerische Staatsoper, and a violin concerto for Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
Francesconi is also an active conductor and has taught master classes and at conservatories around the world for 30 years. He has been Music Director of the Venice Biennale (2008-2011) and Artistic Director of the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Festival (2011). In 2012 he was a professor in residence at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and professor in residence and featured composer at IRCAM's new event in Paris, acanthes@ircam. In 2013 he was a composer in residence at the Casa da Música of Porto.
In 2018 Francesconi received two major awards: the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize for musical composition and the Prix Italiques for the opera Trompe-la-mort.
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