Alessandro Melchiorre was born in Imperia, Liguria (November 30, 1951), but his career took place mostly in Milan: here he graduated in Architecture at the Polytechnic, performing parallel studies in composition at the Conservatory (graduated then from the Hochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau with Brian Ferneyhough and Klaus Huber).

The attendance of DAMS in Bologna (he graduated with Luigi Rognoni and Rossana Dalmonte) is the source of his musicological and critical production, which includes writings on Schumann, Schoenberg and Expressionism, Grisey, Xenakis, Dufourt. Attended by the major festivals of contemporary music his catalogue includes some interesting operas as Schwelle, based on Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, a radio-opera as Atlante Occidentale and Unreported inbound Palermo (based on the novel by Daniele Del Giudice, initially in the form of an oratorio at the Venice Biennale 1995, then in theatrical operatic form (co-produced by Teatro Comunale di Bologna and Pocket Opera Nuremberg, special jury mention at the Prix Italia 1996).

Is important in the Melchiorre's music the presence or the inspiration of electronic: in this we see the attendance of Ferienkurse Darmstadt (Kranichstein prize for A Wave) and Ircam Paris (Le città invisibili, Ensemble Intercontemporain-IRCAM, David Robertson), to name just two of the most significant works. Its stated purpose is to unite in music writing “pen and computer”, conceived by the musician as two paradigms, two ways of thinking about music, that it is necessary, albeit difficult to integrate. He was director of the Milan conservatory from 2013 to 2016.

Image: © sketch by A. Doria, 2009