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Luciano Berio - Composer Information

Born in 1925 in the town of Oneglia, Luciano Berio began his musical studies under the guidance of his father and went on to attend the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan where he studied with Paribeni and Ghedini. As a result of having won a fellowship from the Koussevitzky Foundation in 1951, he was invited to Tanglewood where he pursued advanced studies with Luigi Dallapiccola at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood. In 1954, in collaboration with Bruno Maderna. He founded and directed the Studio of Musical Phonology at the RAI in Milan. In 1956 Berio founded the music review "incontri Musicali" and until 1960 directed and conducted the concerts organized by that publication. He also undertook an intensive teaching career both in Europe and in the United States, with courses in composition at Tanglewood, the Dartington Summer School, Mills College in California, Darmstadt, Cologne, Harvard University and, from 1965 to '72, at the Juilliard School in New York. He was named Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry by Harvard University for the 1993-94 academic year. From 1974 to 1979 he worked with IRCAM in Paris, and in 1980 th City University of London honored him with an honorary degree. He has been awared the Ernst von Siemens-Musik-Preis in Munich and is an honorary member of the Hochschule Mozarteum of Salzburg. He has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and America.
Berio's extensive catalogue compries music for the stage, including: Visage, an electronic work with voice and dance solo (Rome, 1963); Passaggio for soprano, 2 choirs and instruments (Milan, 1963), La vera storia (Milan, 1982), Un re in ascolto (Salzburg, 1984), orchestral works, including: Chemins I-IV (1965-75), …Points on the curve to find for piano and 23 instruments (1974), Il ritorno degli Snovidenia for cello and 30 instruments (1977), Requies for chamber orchestra (1959-65), Folksongs for mezzo soprano and instruments (1964), Cries of London for 6 voices (1974), Coro for 40 voices and instruments (1974-76), Canticum Novissimi Testamenti for a cappella choir (1988); Ofanim for two instrumental groups, 2 boys' choirs, female voice and live electronics (1988); and chamber works, including: Sequenze I-IX for various instruments (1958-81), Différences for flute, clarinet, viola, harp, and tape (1958-59); Notturno for string quartet (1993), electronic music: Perspectives (1956), Thema (1958), Chants Parallèles (1975) and Diario immaginario (1975).

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