Francesco FILIDEI, guest composer

Francesco Filidei was born in Pisa. He graduated from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, and from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. As an organist and composer, he has been invited to participate in major contemporary music festivals internationally.

He has been played with a number of world-class orchestras, including WDR, SWR, RSO Wien, ORT, RAI, the Tokyo Philharmonic, Bayerischen Rundfunk, LaVerdi, the Philharmonic Orchestras of Monte Carlo, Nice, Picardie, Helsinki, Vilnius and Warsaw, the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and the OPL, the Orchestre of Mexique; and with most of the world’s the leading specialized ensembles at venues such as the Philharmonie in Berlin, Köln, Essen, Hamburg, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Suntory Hall and the Tokyo Opera House, Theaterhaus in Vienna, Herkulessaal in Munich, Tonhalle in Zurich, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

In 2005 Filidei received a commission from Comité de Lecture Ircam. He has received awards including the 2006 Salzburg Music Förderpreisträger, the 2007 Prix Takefu, the 2009 Siemens Förderpreisträger, the 2011 International Rostrum of Composers UNESCO Picasso-Miro Medal, the 2015 Abbiati Award, the 2016 Les Grands Prix Internationaux du Disque from the Académie Charles Cros for his album Forse, the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation’s 2018 Commande awarded by the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 2005 Filidei received a grant from the Akademie Schloss Solitude; in 2006 and 2007 he was a member of the Casa de Velàzquez; in 2012 he was a Pensionnaire at Villa Medici; he received a grant from the DAAD in Berlin. Filidei has also been composer-in-residence for numerous ensembles and music festivals. Filidei is also active in teaching and has taught composition at the Royaumont Foundation’s Voix Nouvelles program, the University of Iowa, Takefu (Tokyo), the International Academy in Tchaikovsky City (Russia), Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Germany), and at numerous institutions and universities throughout the world (Ircam, Cnsmdp, Esmuc, Musikene, The conservatory of Strasbourg and Moskow, the university of Berlin, Hannover, Stuttgart, Graz, San Diego, Tokyo amongst many others). In 2019 he will give masterclasses with portrait concerts in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

In 2016 he was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. Filidei joined the I Teatri Foundation of Reggio Emilia (Italy) as music consultant in 2018 and the Villa Medici in Rome as Artistic Director of the Controtempo festival of contemporary music.

Filidei’s first opera, Giordano Bruno, made its world premiere in 2015 in Porto (Portugal), and has been performed in theaters throughout Europe since then. His latest opera, L’inondation, with book by Joel Pommerat, was composed for the 2019 season at Opéra Comique in Paris.

Filidei’s works are published by Rai Com and Ricordi.

Oscar BIANCHI, guest composer

Born in Milan, holding dual Italian-Swiss citizenships, Oscar Bianchi completed degrees in composition, choir conducting and electronic music at the Giuseppe Verdi conservatory of Milan. He pursued further studies in composition taking part in master programs such as at IRCAM - Centre Pompidou and with a doctoral degree at Columbia University in New York under the guidance of Tristan Murail.

''Vitality, pulsing rhythms, and virtuosity are the hallmarks of the music created by Bianchi, who reveals a sensible interest in new phrasings and new ornamentations, something to be expected from someone whose ears are finely attuned to the music from all corners of the globe. A vocal quality, even in his instrumental work, can strike us as a prominent feature of his music. Exuberant and intelligent, this vocal dimension plays with a refined art of accentuations in all its intermediate degrees. We know him now increasingly interested in cantata, opera and staged works: at its core, Bianchi's music continues to be guided by the challenge of dramaturgical and formal issues. The unexpected contrasts between voluble virtuosity and contemplative stasis are the driving force of his flair for dramatic gesture. His music is joyfully violent in breath and in song but may suddenly come to rest in prayer, via a specific harmony, as though struck by the noonday light'' (Jean-Luc Plouvier, Ictus Ensemble).

Commissioned by the Aix-en-Provence Festival and Théâtre & Musique, his first opera, Thanks to My Eyes, libretto and direction by Joël Pommerat, received critical acclaim by audiences and critics alike (A masterly portrait of Melancholy, Le Monde, July 7, 2011). His music has been performed by outstanding orchestras and soloists such as the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, DSO, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, London Sinfonietta, Ictus, Asko-Schoenberg, JACK, Diotima, Arditti, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Remix, Nieuw Ensemble, l’Itineraire, Contrechamps, ICE, Alarm Will Sound, Sabine Meyer, David Grimal, Pablo Heras-Casado, Markus Poschner, Jonathan Stockhammer, KNM Berlin, Phoenix, Collegium Novum Zürich.

Upcoming projects include new works for the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Diotima, Accroche Note and Ensemble Modern. Oscar Bianchi was a guest of the DAAD Kunstlerprogramm Berlin, Pro-Helvetia in Warsaw and Johannesburg and the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida. He has been awarded numerous prizes, such as the Gaudeamus first Prize and the Grand Prix de la SACEM. «Partendo» has been awarded with the 2016 IMC International Rostrum of composer's prize while his first CD Portrait won the German Record Critics' Award in 2013. As the artistic director of the International Young Composers Academy Ticino Musica, and board member of reMusik Festival St Petersburg Oscar Bianchi has been a champion for a young generation of talented composers from all around the world who he fosters tirelessly.

BARCELONA MODERN ENSEMBLE, resident ensemble

Founded in 2004 and completely renewed since in 2013 the composer Demian Luna assumes his artistic direction.

The task of these last years is based mainly on contemporary music, current and newly created, and on the interpretation and subsequent dissemination of the young emerging values ​​of contemporary Spanish and world music, as well as the already established composers: Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann, Martin Matalon, Hèctor Parra, Raphaël Cendo, Kaija Saariaho, José Manuel López López, Jonathan Harvey, Benet Casablancas, Philippe Hurel, Alberto Posadas, Ramón Lazkano, Cristóbal Halfter, Gabriel Erkoreka, Luis De Pablo, etc.

Since 2014 is the resident ensemble of the Barcelona Modern International Composition Course, working on the work of guest composers Martin Matalon (2014/15), Héctor Parra (2015/16), Raphaël Cendo (2016/17), José Manuel López López (2017/18) and premiered 15 works by young composers every year, among them: Diego Jiménez Tamame, Frédéric Le Bel, Ariadna Alsina, Jeremías Iturra, Demian Rudel Rey, Pablo Andoni Gómez Olabarría, etc.

The ensemble has performed in prestigious halls and festivals, among which stand out: the Sampler Sèries cycle at the Barcelona Auditorium, the Tarragona Spring Festival, the Josep Carreras Auditorium in Vila-seca, the Palau Robert in Barcelona, ​​the 400 MNCARS Auditorium in Madrid, the Auditorium of CatalunyaCaixa in La Pedrera, Sala Mompou (SGAE / Barcelona), Spanien Modern Festival 2009 and 2011 in Vienna, Arnold Schönberg Center, Institute of North American Studies in Barcelona, ​​Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona, ​​Instituto Cervantes in Bremen, Aujord'hui Musiques Festival of Perpignan, National Theater of Catalonia, Museum of the University of Navarra, Institut Français-Barcelona, ​​Phonos Foundation, Mostra Sonora de Sueca, ME_MMIX Festival of Mallorca, Festival Turbulences Sonores de Montpellier, etc.

Formed by elite players specialized in contemporary repertoire, the ensemble evolves and advances at a steady pace, being already a reference of the country's current music.