Quick Facts
Biography
Giorgio Battistelli (born 25 April 1953) is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. A native of Albano Laziale (province of Rome), he studied at the conservatory in L'Aquila and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel. Battistelli has written nearly 20 operas on subjects ranging from Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopaedia to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His opera CO, based on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, premiered at La Scala in 2015.
His opera Wake was premiered by the Birmingham Opera Company in March 2018 and is inspired by the story of Lazarus being brought back from the dead.
In 1994 he founded with some friends the improvisation group entitled Edgard Varèse and an instrumental ensemble named Beat '72. From 1985 to 1986 he was host of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in Berlin. In 1990 he won the SIAE for an opera and in 1993 the Cervo Prize for contemporary music.
He was also artistic director of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana. He is currently director of the music section of the Venice Biennale.
In 2007 he was Artistic Director of the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme hosted by Aldeburgh Music.
His music is published by Ricordi.
Stage works
| Title | Format | Libretto and source | Premiere |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experimentum Mundi | Opera di musica immaginistica, 60' | the composer, after the Encyclopédie of Diderot and D'Alembert | May 1981; Teatro Olimpico, Rome |
| Linzer Stahloper | Sep 1982; Hauptplatz, Linz | ||
| Jules Verne | Fantasia da camera, 60' | Sep 1987; Strasbourg | |
| Aphrodite | Monodramma di costumi antichi, 50' | after the novel Aphrodite: mœurs antiques by Pierre Louÿs | Jul 1988; Villa Massimo, Rome |
| Combattimento di Ettore e Achille | Représentation de corps et de mémoire, 60' | the composer, after texts of Homer, Tirso de Molina, Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, Du Bellay, Racine, Stazio, Quintus, Monti, Leopardi, Foscolo, Chiabrera, Ariosto, Catullo, Ronsard, Valéry | Sep 1989; Festival Musica, Strasbourg |
| Keplers Traum | Kammeroper, 60' | the composer, loosely after Kepler | Sep 1990; Brucknerhaus, Linz |
| Teorema | Parabola in musica in 2 atti (16 scene), 70' | the composer, loosely after the film by Pier Paolo Pasolini | Mar 1992; Teatro Comunale, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino |
| Frau Frankenstein | Monodramma del Prometeo moderno, 35' | the composer, after Mary Shelley | Mar 1993; Berliner Festspiele |
| Prova d’Orchestra | Teatro di musica | Nov 1995; Strasbourg | |
| The Cenci | Music theatre | the composer and Nick Ward, after the setting by Antonin Artaud of the verse drama by Shelley | Jul 1997; Almeida Opera Festival, London |
| Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit | Musiktheater in 5 scenes, 70' | Michael Klügl, after the novel by Sten Nadolny | Oct 1997; Theater Bremen |
| Impressions d'Afrique | Music theatre | Lavaudant and Loayza, after texts by Roussel, Blake, Dickens, Morgenstern, Rabelais, Saba, Tasso | May 2000; Teatro Goldoni/ Maggio Musicale Fiorentino |
| Auf den Marmorklippen | Musikalische visionen, 100' | Giorgio van Straten and the composer, after the novel by Ernst Jünger | Mar 2002; Nationaltheater Mannheim |
| The Embalmer | Monodramma giocoso da camera, 70' | Renzo Rosso | Jul 2002; Almeida Opera Festival, London |
| Der Herbst des Patriarchen | Opera in 6 scenes, 110' | Gotthart Kuppel, after El otoño del patriarca by Gabriel García Márquez | Jun 2004; Theater Bremen |
| Richard III | Dramma musicale in 2 acts, 150' | Ian Burton, after the play by Shakespeare | Jan 2005; Flemish Opera, Antwerp |
| Miracolo a Milano | Music theatre, 90' | the composer, loosely after the novel Totò il buono by Cesare Zavattini and its film adaption Miracolo a Milano by Vittorio De Sica | Nov 2007; Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia |
| The Fashion | Opera Mondana in 12 scenes, 90' | Bob Goody | Jan 2008; Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf |
| Divorzio all'Italiana | Azione musicale in 23 tavole per il crepuscolo della famiglia, 90' | the composer, loosely after the film by Pietro Germi | Sep 2008; Opéra national de Lorraine, Nancy |
| CO2 | Opera, 90' | Ian Burton, Sung in English with electronic libretto in Italian, English | May 2015; La Scala, Milan |
| Il Medico dei Pazzi | Opera | 2016; Opéra national de Lorraine, Nancy | |
| Lot | Opera | 2017; Staatsoper Hannover | |
| Wake | Opera | Sarah Woods | March 2018; Birmingham Opera Company |
