Franco Venturini, piano
Franco Venturini graduated in Italy in piano, summa cum laude, composition and electronic music. Afterwards he got the diploma in composition in the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome with I. Fedele and a Master's Degree in composition, theory and research in Paris 8 University. He improved his competences in performance mostly with M. Campanella and the Trio di Trieste, getting the “Diploma of Merit” in piano and chamber music courses at Accademia Chigiana in Siena and at the International Chamber Music High School of Trio di Trieste. He attended composition Master Classes in various international contexts, as the Centre Acanthes in Metz and the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt meeting composers as M. Jarrell, M. Stroppa, T. Murail, B. Furrer, P. Hurel, U. Chin, J. M. López López. Among the prizes he won, are The modern recorder project – International Composition Competition 2008 of Musikinstitut Darmstadt, the 9ème Forum de la Jeune Création Musicale by S.I.M.C. (International Society for Contemporary Music) in Paris, the Premio Trio di Trieste – Coral International composition award, the Premio Farnesina sonora for composers by the Federazione CEMAT in Rome, the PRIX Mention Spéciale A. ROUSSEL and the PRIX SACEM in the 8ème Concours International de piano d’Orléans. He was finalist for the Prize of arts San Fedele – Section Music, an international triennial competition for young composers that promoted the publication of three DVDs with some works by the selected composers.
As a pianist he has active collaborations with various ensembles, as Soundinitiative and Pulsar, new music ensembles in Paris, and in the italian FontanaMIX and Icarus ensembles, mainly devoting himself to the interpretation of contemporary repertory. He also collaborated with several internationally recognized musicians like N. Isherwood, G. Knox, N. De Paz, L. Pfaff, and the choreographer L. Veggetti.
He played in concert in various festivals in different countries: Italy (Ravello Concert Society; Bologna Festival; Biennale Musica in Venice; Parco della Musica in Rome; Trieste Prima; Festival Nuove Musiche in Palermo), France (Paris – Salle Cortot; Manifeste Ircam; Théâtre Adyar; Orléans - Matinées du piano; Annecy - Festival Sons d'Automne; Italian Culture Institutes of Paris and Strasbourg), Spain (Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Festival Mixtur), Austria (Schönberg Center), Croatia (Biennale Musica of Zagreb), Slovenia (Festival Slowind 2012 in Ljubljana, under the direction of M. Pintscher). He recently made a musical tour in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore with the ensemble Soundinitiative giving concerts in the BIFEM, in the Brisbane Festival and in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore.
He dedicates himself also to the composition; his works are been performed in various international contexts, as: Biennale Musica in Venice, Angelica Festival in Bologna, Milano Musica Festival, Festival MITO in Milan, Pharos Arts Foundation International Contemporary Music Festival in Cyprus, Festival musikprotokoll in Graz, Musica para el tercer milenio in Madrid, Lee Foundation Theater of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. He was involved in the PRIME (Paetzold Recorder Investigation for Music with Electronics) project, promoted by the conservatory of Lausanne and A. Politano. Among the interpreters of his music are internationally recognized musicians as Quartetto Prometeo, Trío Arbós, the ensembles Klangforum Wien, Proxima Centauri, Divertimento, l'Imaginaire, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, the conductors J. Deroyer et J.-M. Lavoie. Some of his works and performances were broadcast on various radios (RAIRadio3, Radio France Musique, Radio Österreich 1). He received commissions by the Biennale Musica of Venice and the foundation Arena di Verona. He obtained also an artistic residence in the Italian Culture Institute in Paris, for the project “Les promesses de l'art”. He was selected as finalist of the international composition competition Feeding the music, associated to the Universal Exposition 2015 of Milan for which he was commissioned a work that was premiered by the Divertimento ensemble.
He gave lectures-concerts on the contemporary pianistic language and analysis courses in conservatories and universities. He actually lives in Paris.