Michele Sganga (EN)

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Born in 1978 and based in Rome, Italy, Michele Sganga has a formal academic education as a pianist and composer. However, since the very beginning of his career, he has cultivated a strong interest in creative contaminations, collaborating with artists from different disciplines and experimenting with different musical genres.

His wide repertoire as a pianist goes from Bach to contemporary music, with a predilection for Chopin and Liszt. As a composer, he has written music for theater, cinema and television, and chamber music for voice and various instruments.

He got his Piano degree summa cum laude at "S. Cecilia" Conservatoire in Rome, under the guide of Maria Teresa Carunchio. Afterwards he attended post-graduate courses and gained prizes and awards in some National and International competitions, such as the first prize at "Don Matteo Colucci" (Fasano); "Harmonie", (Roma); "Città di Barletta"; "Città di Caserta". He also went on studying Composition at "S. Cecilia" Conservatoire for several years.

Among recent productions as a piano soloist, as well as two CDs recorded for the label OFFICINA DELLA MUSICA, Musical Animal. Biodiversity at the piano (2012) and Le ragioni del canto. Franz Liszt (2014) – both performed live at well-known Festival “La Milanesiana" (2013 and 2014), and for the radio show "La stanza della musica" of RAI National Radio3 –, it stands out his solo recital dedicated to Europe (Europiano), that he played at the opening of the chamber season 2014-2015 of Cracow Philharmonic.

Among the many productions of his studio SONICVIEW - SOUNDFACTORY, a musical project created together with Matteo de Rossi, they stand out those who were made for major record labels, such as IMAIE (Le opere per tre chitarre di Franco Margola, 2006), BRILLIANT CLASSICS (Sor: Complete Fantasias for Guitar, 2011), NAXOS (Gian Francesco Malipiero - Impressioni dal vero, Pause del silenzio, 2011) and OFFICINA DELLA MUSICA.

As a composer, in 2010 he was invited by the Embassy of Poland to the Holy See to perform his original piano Hommage to Chopin, composed for the closing of the Fryderyk Chopin’s Bicentennial. They also stand out the composition of the original soundtrack for the documentary Il testimone passato, included in the special Tv cycle reserved by RAI National Tv to the "70th Year After Liberation" (2015 - Rai Storia), and his Magnificat for Soprano, piano and violin, chosen to be the soundtrack for Adriano Marenco's play La casta morta, and performed at the prestigious “Soli Deo Gloria” Festival in Reggio Emilia (2017).

He also obtained a full-honours degree in History of Music at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, discussing the dissertation L’orizzonte filosofico di Luigi Nono (“Luigi Nono’s philosophical horizon”) with the supervision of prof. Pierluigi Petrobelli. And so he devides his time between work as a piano soloist and composition activities in Italy and abroad, and writing of scientific and popular essays about opera and other musical matters. Some of his scientific papers have been translated in polish, such as the ones he wrote about Luigi Nono, Gioachino Rossini, Fryderyk Chopin and Andrej Tarkovskij. He’s also author of musicological texts for a successful editorial serial about opera.

Most recently he continued focusing on soundtracks, such as the ballet “Anamoni” (2017). In 2018 Sinfonica Edizioni published his “Biologie per chitarra”, both the score and the CD, and in 2019 - commissioned by University College London - he composed an original soundtrack for Guazzoni's silent movie “Cajus Julius Caesar”.

In 2020 he composed some of the music for the movie "Extraliscio. Punk da Balera”, presented at Venice Film Festival, and released his latest album of songs for piano solo: "Songs without Words" (Canzoni senza parole, Lumi Edizioni Musicali).

Michele Sganga is also the founder and CEO of "Lumi Edizioni Musicali", a publishing company and label that aims to give visibility to independent and innovative musicians from all over the world.

Email: misgang@icloud.com
YouTube Channel: Michele Sganga
Facebook: Michele Sganga
Website: Michele Sganga

-----Articles, interviews and reviews-----

Tg1 Persone del 26/05/2018, with Angelo Angelastro
Su Anamoni, by Adriano Ercolani
In ascolto del cinema muto: Quo vadis?, by Michele Sganga
Nono con Tarkovskij: un segno e un sogno di felicità (pp. 93-122), by Michele Sganga
Un pianista racconta la biodiversità al pianoforte, with Paola Pastacaldi
Michele Sganga - Animale Musicale, by Adriano Ercolani

-----Original compositions-----

Songs from Vuong's Eleven (Baritone and piano)
Threshold
Torso of Air
The Gift
Deto(nation)

Piano solo
Variazione n. 5 (da E. Satie)
Oscillazione gravitazionale
Come destinati
Curvature del tempo
Diatomee
Quo vadis? (Incendio di Roma)

Soprano and piano
Magnificat (Incipit)

Violin and piano
Fronde in canto, last movement taken from La voce degli alberi

Violin
Tema e canone

Guitar
Studio n. 3, from Biologie per chitarra (Edizioni Musicali Sinfonica, 2018)
Studio n. 1, from Biologie per chitarra (Edizioni Musicali Sinfonica, 2018)

-----Classical interpretations-----

Liszt
Messiaen
Chopin