Luigi Ceccarelli


Luigi Ceccarelli is an Italian composer.

Biography

Luigi Ceccarelli completed his musical studies in the ‘70s at the Gioachino Rossini Conservatory of Pesaro, 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, contemporary dance, cinema and visual arts.
After moving to Rome in 1978, he began to collaborate with the Gruppo di lavoro intercodice - ALTRO, 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 theatre. 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 and staged at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, which launched Ceccarelli’s international career.
In 1994, he made the radio-film La Guerra dei Dischi, which was commissioned by Rai Radio 3 and based on a text by Stefano Benni. 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 Rai Radio 3.
In 1996 his work Birds for bass clarinet and birdsong was awarded the first prize in the competition of the IMEB. 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 together with the composers Alessandro Cipriani, Mauro Cardi 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 films: The [Last Days of Pompeii], The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Blackmail and Inferno. The DVDs with the soundtracks of Inferno realized by Edison Studio were released in 2011 by the Cineteca di Bologna. 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.
Starting from 2000, he realised a series of compositions for musical theatre and site-specific art installations for the Ravenna Festival, including In Die Resurrectionis, for the Basilica of San Vitale and Bianco Nero Piano Forte, in collaboration with the photographers Lelli & Masotti and the writer Mara Cantoni, which was located in the Biblioteca Classense.
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 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 and in New York. Another work of musical theatre that Ceccarelli realised in the same period was the Requiem staged by the theatre company Fanny & Alexander and performed for the first time at the Ravenna Festival in 2001. For these works he received the Italian Theater Critics Award of the Premio UBU in 2002, as well as the prize of Belgrade [International Theatre Festival] and that of the MESS International Theatre Festival of 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 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 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. 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 - text Nevio Spadoni, directed by Marco Martinelli+/- - directed by Luigi De Angelis-Fanny & Alexander Tupac Amaru, la deconquista, il Pachacuti - on a text by Gianni TotiLa Mano, de profundis rock – on a text by Luca Doninelli, directed by Marco MartinelliFrancesca da Rimini – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena BucciGalla Placidia – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Elena BucciRequiem - directed by Luigi de AngelisL’isola di Alcina – on a text by Nevio Spadoni, directed by Marco MartinelliEsercizi di Patologia – on a text by Valerio MagrelliMacchine Virtuose – a staged concert by Gianfranco LucchinoIsla Coco - with ElectraVox Ensemble.
  • music for Abominable A – with "Altro, gruppo di lavoro intercodice"

Electroacoustic music

X-Traces - with Daniele Roccato - for double bass and live electronicsIl contatore di nuvole – for piano and samples of prepared piano I luoghi comuni non sono segnati sulle carte - with Edison Studio, on a text by Marco MartinelliArmonia dell’ascendente - with the Tibetan monks of the Drepung Loseling monasteryCadenza – acousmatic musicBirds – for bass clarinet, samples of bass clarinet and birdsongs Quattro pezzi su poesie di Giovanni Pascoli : Notte d’Inverno, nella Nebbia, l’Uccellino del Freddo, le Rane – for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, text from four poems by Giovanni PascoliNeuromante - for alto sax and elaborated sounds of saxQuanti - for clarinet and elaborated sounds of clarinetsAnima di Metallo - for three percussionists and elaborated sounds of percussionExsultet - for choir of gregorian chant and electronic elaborationCadenza esplosa - acousmatic pieceInferi - for reciting voice and elaborated sounds, on a text by Mara CantoniIn die resurrectionis - for choir of gregorian chant and electronic elaborationRespiri - for french horn and elaborated samples of hornA propos de la chambre a coucher de Philippe II dans l’église de l’Escorial - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by Valerio MagrelliDe zarb a daf - for zarb, daf, and sampled sounds of zarb and dafAracne - for reciting voices and elaborated sounds, on a text by Guido BarbieriLuce-ombra, - for string quartet and samples of stringsAleph con zero - for two pianos, two marimbas and sampled sounds Discussione del 3000 - for two percussionists and sampled sounds of voiceAura in visibile - for flute, piano and vibrating exciters Etaoin shrdlu - for Double bass and live electronics - with Marcello FedericiTitanic & Icarus spa - for amplified cymbals and tam-tams, and vibrating excitersIncontro con Rama - for trombone and live electronicsKoramachine - for violin with ringmodulator and seven amplified instruments Il contingente cambia colore – for magnetic tape

Soundtracks for cinema

Audiovisual works and installations

Pic ) – videoBianco Nero Piano Forte – installation - prose and verses by Mara Cantoni, images by Lelli & Masotti

Works for radio

Music for dance

  • music for … Have you hugged, kissed and respected your brown Venus today? – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by Robyn OrlinStrangely Enough – with Daniele Roccato and Wee Company – choreography by Francesco Scavetta
  • music for With astonishment I note the dog – with Alessandro Cipriani – choreography by Robyn OrlinHey dude, let’s stick around a bit longer this time – choreography by Francesco Scavetta
  • music for A Glimpse of Hope – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka Flory
  • music for Margine Buio – choreography by Simone Sandroni, Lenka FloryLive* – choreography by Francesco Scavetta
  • music for Tre Soli Italiani – three choreographies by Francesco Scavetta, Monica Francia and Antonio MontanileNaturalmente Tua – choreography by Lucia LatourAnihccam, – choreography by Lucia LatourOn y Tombe on n’y Tombe – with Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia LatourFrilli Troupe – con Luca Spagnoletti – choreography by Lucia LatourLa Lu La – choreography by Lucia LatourSpatium Teca – choreography by Lucia LatourPorte à Faux, – choreography by Lucia Latour

Main CD and DVD

Monographic CD

La Mano – Luca Sossella editions Exsultet – Rai Trade editions RTC006L’isola di Alcina – Ravenna Teatro editions CD 01/00Macchine Virtuose - Edipan editions CCD 3062La guerra dei Dischi/Naturalmente Tua – Edipan editions CCD 3054Anihccam – BMG-Ariola editions CCD 3005

CD and DVD with Edison Studio

Inferno – DVD Il Cinema Ritrovato editions – Cineteca di BolognaEdison Studio – DVD Auditorium editions EdiLDC278 1139/40Zarbing – CD edition La Frontiera LFDL 18401 – RaiTrade editions RTP00902005