Luigi Antonio Irlandini

Biography

Luigi Antonio Irlandini, Brazilian/Italian composer and pianist born in Rio de Janeiro,
composes music for choir, orchestra, solo instruments and chamber ensembles
using not only western traditional instrumentation but also combining western and non-western instruments.
Of special interest are percussion instruments, recorders, the shakuhachi, the solo voice and vocal groups a cappella.
The co-existence of western and non-western, musical and philosophical, modern and ancient concepts, gives to his music a characteristic sound, and a strong interdisciplinary trait.

Several of his works have been composed in direct collaboration with soloists, ensembles, and festivals, such as the following:

• Agnistoma II, for four recorder players, commissioned by the Milan-based Associazione Musica Reservata
  for the Festival "Simboli e Allegorie del Sacro nella Musica Strumentale Antica e Contemporanea", in Vicenza and Varese, Italy, 1998.
• Sol das Almas (Sun of Souls), for guitar, commissioned in 1999 by Italian guitarrist Silvia Cesco
  for her CD "Phantasie, musica per chitarra del secolo XX".
• Pythagoras, for tenor recorder, commissioned in 2000 by Dutch recorder virtuoso Eva Legêne, at the time Professor of Music at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloominfton, USA.
• Partita, for six recorder players, commissioned by Brisk Recorder Quartet Amsterdam and Duix Recorder Duo
  for their concert season "In Stile Antico e Moderno: A concert of 16th-century and modern music for recorders", in Amsterdam, Maastricht and Middleburg, Holand, 2003.
• Porta do Sol…nos Confins do Mundo (Sun Door…at World's End), for soprano and eight cellos, commissioned by the X RICE (Tenth Rio International Cello Encounter), in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 2005.
• Metagon, for shakuhachi, in collaboration with artist Jean Pierre Hébert, for the live realization of his spiral sand sculpture Metagon, Santa Barbara, California, 2008.
  
  

Irlandini's composition Sacrifício for mixed choir a cappella received a special mention
at the New London Chamber Choir's 20th Anniversary Composition Competition in London, 2001.

Madrigal de Fogo (Madrigal of Fire), for mezzosoprano, strings and percussion, received first prize
at the Chamber Music Corwin Competition Contest in Santa Barbara, California, 1996.

Irlandini studied composition:

• in Brazil, with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, in Rio de Janeiro;
• in Italy, with Franco Donatoni, in Biella and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena,
  and with Franco Cioci, at the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence;
• in California, with Stephen L. Mosko at CalArts,
  and with Brian Ferneyhough at the University of California, San Diego.
  
  

Irlandini studied classical piano in Rio de Janeiro with Estela Caldi, Luiz Henrique Senise and Nereida Nogueira.

Egberto Gismonti produced Irlandini's piano improvisation LP Azul e Areia (Blue and Sand) with his recording label CARMO in 1985.

Irlandini has done extensive work with experimental theater groups, specially group QÁ BAL O QUÁ,
by Brazilian theater director Isabela Timm Fymminz, in Rome, from 1991 to 1994,
touring with the theatrical street performance Allegorie del Caos in several Italian cities.

Currently, since 2010, Luigi Antonio Irlandini is Adjunct Professor and Researcher
at the Department of Music, Arts Center (CEART), of the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, UDESC,
in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil,
teaching Harmony, Counterpoint, Analysis, and Composition, with an emphasis on contemporary and 20th century music.

Click here to see Irlandini's Lattes curriculum (Brazilian academic system's cv).

Irlandini was Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) between 1999 an 2002.
In this capacity he worked at the Center for Research in Electronic Art and Technology (CREATE)
with composer Prof. JoAnn Kuchera-Morin, and,
at the UCSB Music Department, with musicologist Prof. Michael Beckerman, in the preparation of his book New Worlds of Dvorák.

Irlandini has taught composition and twentieth-century music courses as Lecturer for one year at UCSB (1998-1999).

From 2001 to 2010, Irlandini has taught music, singing, recorders, and violin and directed children's choirs and strings orchestra
in the following American Steiner elementary and high schools:
Ashwood Waldorf School (Rochport, Maine), Westside Waldorf School (Los Angeles, California),
Santa Fe Waldorf School (New Mexico), and Waldorf School of San Diego (California).
Irlandini received his specialized training in anthroposophic pedagogy and
musical anthroposophic pedagogy of the School of Uncovering the Voice in courses and workshops for teachers
at the Waldorf Institute of Southern California (Northridge), Rudof Steiner College (Sacramento, California),
and Sunbridge College (Chestnut Ridge, New York).

Ph.D. in Music, Composition: University of California, Santa Barbara, UCSB, 1998.
M.F.A. in Music, Composition: California Institute of the Arts, CALARTS, Valencia, California, 1990.
B.M. in Music, Piano Performance: Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, UNI-RIO, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 1987.