BIOGRAPHY
Gabriele Manca studied piano with Bruno Canino and composition with Giacomo Manzoni at the Milan Conservatory, where he graduated with top marks.
In 1979 he won the ‘Musica nel nostro tempo-Casa RICORDI’ prize. In 1985 he won the ‘Neue Generation in Europa’ prize organised by the WDR (Köln), the Biennale (Venice) and the Festival d'Automne (Paris) for the European Year of Music. He was assistant pianist to Cathy Berberian at the Centro Studi Ferruccio Busoni in Empoli for the singing course held by the American singer. He has been a collaborating maestro at the Teatro alla Scala and RAI in Milan, working among others with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Salvatore Sciarrino, and Mauricio Kagel, whose assistant he was for Scala productions.
He was awarded the Japan Foundation Uchida Fellowship in 2000. He then spent several months in Japan where he worked on music in the Noh Theatre. He then attended the Toho Gakuen University in Tokyo under the supervision of Kikuko Masumoto.
In 2001, he wrote the music for the Noh film ‘ROKUROBYOE’, by director Chiseko Tanaka, which was presented at the ‘Art Film Festival’ in Bratislava and at the Tokyo Film Festival. He composed the music for Walter Ruttmann's Opus III and Opus IV for the La Fenice Theatre in Venice.
His music has been and is performed in the most important festivals of new music, such as Holland Festival, Musica nel Nostro Tempo, Venezia Opera Prima-La Fenice, Festival Pontino, Ars Musica Bruxelles, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Gesellschaft für neue Music Hannover, Musica Presente (Teatro alla Scala-RAI-RTSI), Spaziomusica-Cagliari, Spazionovecento-Cremona, Musica Presente-Musica in Europa (Teatro alla Scala), Beckett Theatre Melbourne, Sydney Festival, Melbourne Festival, Beethovensaal Bonn, Musical Biennale Zagreb, Darmstadt Ferienkursen , Nuovi Incontri Musicali Milano, MilanoMusica (Teatro alla Scala), Cantiere Internazionale di Montepulciano, Istituto Giapponese di Cultura di Roma, Concerti dell'Acquario-Roma, Samarcanda Festival, Musica per la Resistenza (Teatro alla Scala) Darmstadt-Orangerie, ROMAEUROPA Festival-Villa Medici-Academie de France, Metafonie (Teatro alla Scala) , Theatre Winter Tokyo, Irino Foundation Tokyo, Bienal de Barcelona, Sipario Ducale -Pesaro, Radio Suisse Romande-Lausanne, Aarhus Festival, Valencia Cyberfestival, Senzoku-University-Tokyo, Melbourne University, Konzerthaus Große Saal Wien, Conservatoire de Lausanne, Musik Hochschule-Berlin, Koninklijk Conservatorium voor muziek Amsterdam, Utrecht Festival, Festival Synthese in Bourges, Klangforum Wien Festival, Festival Musikprotokoll in Graz, Europalia-Brussels, Cité de la Musique-Paris, Festival Nieuw Ensemble-Amsterdam, Traiettorie-Parma, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation-Lisbon, Kammerakademie-Potsdam, Festival NUEVA MUSICA Santiago de Chile, Theater Felix Mendelsshon-Bartoldy Liepzig, Hochschule für Musik Weimar, Universität der Künste Berlin, Conservatoire superieur de musique Lausanne, Koninklijk Conservatorium voor muziek Den Haag, Ex Novo Musica-La Fenice, Venice, Festival de musique d'aujourd'hui Geneve, Biennale Musica Venezia 2009-2013; Foro Internacional de Nueva Música Ciudad de Mexico; Festival de Nueva Música de Caracas; Encuentro Intarnacional de Compositores Santiago del Cile 2008-2012; Festival de Nueva Música Universidad de Chile, Santiago del Cile, Milano sinfonica, Divertimento Ensemble.
His works have been commissioned and performed by renowned soloists and ensembles such as: Arditti Quartet, Klangforum Wien, Nieuw Ensemble, Elision Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, Quartetto Prometeo, Sergio Azzolini, Kees Boeke, Antonio Politano, Fulvio Luciani, Antonio Ballista, Elena Cásoli, Guillermo Lavado Lluch, Alter Ego and by conductors such as Emilio Pomarico, Yoichi Sugiyama, Beat Furrer, Ed Spanijard, Zsolt Nagy, Norio Sato.
He has given masterclasses at the Conservatoire de Lausanne, Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris; Musik Hochschule-Berlin, Koninklijk Conservatorium voor muziek Amsterdam; Theater Felix Mendelsshon-Bartoldy Liepzig; Hochschule für Musik Weimar; Universität der Künste Berlin; Tokyo College of Music; Politecnico delle Arti in Milan; Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo; University of Melbourne and Catholic University of Santiago de Chile. From 2006 to 2013 he was profesor visitante at the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Santiago de Chile. He has given masterclasses at the Conservatorio Superior de Zaragoza, Conservatorio Superior de Seville, Conservatorio Superior de Salamanca, Conservatorio Superior de Pamplona.
He taught composition courses at the Centro de las Arte-Universidad UNAM in Mexico City for two consecutive years.
In 2024 he was entrusted with the Cátedra Manuel De Falla in Seville/Cadiz.
He teaches composition at the Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ in Milan
His catalogue includes symphonic music, music for soloist and orchestra, chamber music, solo instrument, instrument and electronics, ensemble and electronics, and vocal music. His scores are mainly published by Casa Ricordi, Stradivarius and Sconfinarte.
