Biography

Luigi Antonio Irlandini, composer and pianist, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He writes contemporary concert music for solo instruments, chamber and choral ensembles, and orchestra, with a special interest in percussion, wind instruments (mainly recorders, the oboe and the shakuhachi), and the voice (solo and in group). The combination of western and non-western concepts has given a characteristic sound to his music whether it employs only traditional western instrumentation or a mixture of western and non-western instruments.

Many of his works have been written for specific professional soloists, ensembles,
and music festivals such as the following:
Agnistoma II, for four recorder players,
for the Festival "Simboli e Allegorie del Sacro nella Musica Strumentale
Antica e Contemporanea" in Vicenza and Varese, Italy, 1998,
Partita, for the Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam and Duix Recorder Duo,
Pythagoras, for recorder virtuoso Eva Legene,
Sol das Almas (Sun of Souls), for Italian guitarist Silvia Cesco,
Porta do Sol...nos Confins do Mundo (Sun Door...at World's End) , for soprano and eight cellos, for the 10th RICE - Rio International Cello Encounter, Rio de Janeiro, 2005. Irlandini's choral piece Sacrificio received a special mention at the New London Chamber Choir 20th Anniversary Choral Composition Prize.

Irlandini's music has been performed in Brazil, Italy, the U.S., and other countries,
by himself as a conductor or performer at his own recitals and lecture/recitals, and by professional soloists and chamber/orchestral performers. For a selected list, please see the page Performances.

Irlandini has a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he also worked as a Lecturer in composition and twentieth-century music, and as a Post-Doctoral Researcher in electro-acoustic and computer music at UCSB's CREATE - Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology. He has a M.F.A. in Composition from the California Institute of the Arts, and a B.M. in Piano Performance from the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro. He also studied advanced composition at the Accademia di Musica Chigiana in Siena, and at the Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini in Florence, Italy. His composition teachers were Franco Donatoni in Italy, Brian Ferneyhough and Stephen L. Mosko in California, and Hans-Joachim Koellreutter in Rio de Janeiro. He studied jazz theory, harmony and arranging with Ian Guest in Rio de Janeiro.

In the beginning of his career Irlandini composed in a range of diverse styles from jazz-fusion to popular song, other than concert music. Improvisation had also been a major activity throughout the years, both in the group Improvistik in Rio de Janeiro and as a soloist. His piano solo improvisations appear in his LP Azul e Areia produced by Egberto Gismonti, CARMO Produções Artísticas, Rio de Janeiro, 1985. Irlandini's improvisation style retains influences of contemporary jazz and modern/contemporary concert music.

Irlandini has worked extensively with experimental theatre groups in Brazil and Italy,
as composer, music director, and performing musician, including
experimental theatre group QA BAL O QUA, directed by Isabela Tymm Fyminz
in Rome, 1991 through 1993, with several performances throughout Italy.

As a music educator, Luigi Antonio Irlandini teaches composition, harmony, jazz harmony, improvisation, piano, recorder, and music in general. He taught composition and twentieth-century music history/analysis courses at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1997to 1999. He has taught music, singing, chorus and flutes within the Waldorf schools system since 2001.