Gabriele Manca (August 12, 1957) studied piano under Bruno Canino and composition under Giacomo Manzoni at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milano, where he graduated with honors.

In 1979 he won the Musica nel nostro tempo-Casa Ricordi Award. In 1985 Manca won the New Generation in Europe Award, organized by WDR (Köln), the Venice Biennale, and Festival d’Automne (Paris), for Europe’s Year of Music.

In 2000 Manca was a fellow at the Japan Foundation Uchida. He spent several months in Japan, where he worked on music for the Noh Theater.
In 2001 he wrote the soundtrack for “Rokurobyoe”, a film on the Noh directed by Chiseko Tanaka, which was shown at the Art Film Festival in Bratislava and at the Tokyo Film Festival. Manca also wrote the music for “Opus III” and “Opus IV” by Walter Ruttmann, for Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Manca’s music has been performed at major new music festivals and concert series. His works have been commissioned and performed by renowned soloists and ensembles, including Quartetto Arditti, Klangforum Wien, Nieuw Ensemble, Elision Ensemble, Sergio Azzolini, Kees Boeke, Antonio Politano, Antonio Ballista, Elena Cásoli, Guillermo Lavado Lluch, and Alter Ego.

Manca has given workshops and conferences at the Irino Foundation, Senzoku University, Toho University Tokyo, the Winter Garden Theatre, the Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo, the Politecnico delle Arti in Milano, the University of Melbourne, the Catholic University of Santiago (Chile). In 2006 Manca joined the Pontificia Universidad Católica, also of Santiago, as visiting professor.
He teaches composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milano.
Gabriele Manca’s music has been published by Casa Ricordi, Stradivarius and Sconfinarte.