Nicola Campogrande
Nicola Campogrande (Turin, 1969) is today regarded as one of the most important Italian composers.
Since 2017 his music is published exclusively by Breitkopf & Härtel.
After graduating from the Conservatories of Milan and Paris, he began to develop an original personal style, combining past and present traditions on a fascinating new path. Performing his scores, such musicians as Riccardo Chailly, Gauthier Capuçon, Lilya Zilberstein, Alexander Romanovsky, Mario Brunello, Roberto Abbado, Josep Vicent, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, ADDA Sinfonica, the Fine Arts Quartet or the Quartetto del Teatro alla Scala have appreciated the freshness and the vitality of his music as well as his ability to touch the heart of the listeners.
A musical theatre enthusiast, he wrote the operas De bello gallico, #Folon, Opera italiana, La notte di San Nicola, Macchinario, Lego, Alianti.
He also developed a rich orchestral and chamber catalogue (more than 200 scores).
Among his most appreciated scores there are the Sinfonia n. 2 “Un mondo nuovo”, Concerto for audience and orchestra, R (A portrait for piano and orchestra), Nudo, for piano, Cinque modi per aprire un concerto, for orchestra, Urban gardens for piano and chamber orchestra, the Ink-jet preludes for guitar, Forme di felicità, for violin and piano, the Dances of Laughter and Forgetting for accordion and piano.
His music is recorded on more that 35 cds (from DECCA to independent labels) and it is performed frequently in the most prominent halls of many countries, like the Royal Albert Hall and the Wigmore Hall in London, the Teatro alla Scala, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, the Werner Hall in Cincinnati, the Philharmonie and the Unesco Auditorium in Paris, the Auditorium Santa Cecilia-Parco della Musica in Rome, the Rudolfinum in Prague.
The artistic director of the MITO SettembreMusica festival from 2016 to 2023, Campogrande has been also a host on Italian RAI Radio3 and he produced the TV program “Contrappunti” on the Classica HD Channel. He writes on the cultural pages of the newspaper Il Corriere della sera.
He has been a member of the International Music Commission of the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat, where he’s now Advisor.
His book Occhio alle orecchie. Come ascoltare musica classica e vivere felici (2015) reached six editions and then was published in paperbacks as well. A third edition has already be made also for 100 brani di musica classica da ascoltare una volta nella vita (2018). His last books are Capire la musica classica ragionando da compositori (2020), Viaggio al centro dell’orchestra (2023) and the schoolbook Prima la musica! (2022).
