Nicola Campogrande (*1969)
“The greatness of Campogrande is in his capacity to create a music that belongs to the audience, that doesn’t create a division between who is playing and who is listening. His scores communicate a sense of optimism filled with emotions.” (Paul Daniel)
After graduating from the Conservatories of Milan and Paris, he began to develop an outstanding personal style, combining past and present traditions on a fascinating new path. Performing his scores, such musicians as Riccardo Chailly, Gauthier Capuçon, Lilya Zilberstein, Mario Brunello, Roberto Abbado, Stanislav Kochanovsky and Sergej Krylov have appreciated the freshness and the vitality of his music as well as his ability to touch the heart of the listeners.
Being an enthusiast of musical theatre, he wrote the operas Lego, Opera italiana, #Folon, De bello gallico, La notte di San Nicola, I due usignoli which bring together the lyrical tradition of the Italian opera, specific features of the old musical avant-garde and atmospheric hints of jazz and rock.
Campogrande’s works have been recorded on more than 35 CDs. Regular and current venues for his music include such prestigious ones as the Royal Albert Hall and the Wigmore Hall in London, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Philharmonie in Paris, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, the Rudolfinum in Prague. He’s also a university professor and a highly regarded radio and television host.
Campogrande was a member of the International Music Commission of the European choral association Europa Cantat, and from 2016 to 2023, he was artistic director of the MITO SettembreMusica Festival
In 2023, he was appointed composer in residence of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and, in 2024, also of Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
He has three children and lives in Rome.
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Writings by Nicola Campogrande
Occhio alle orecchie. Come ascoltare musica classica e vivere felici, Milano: Ponte delle Grazie 2015.
100 brani di musica classica da ascoltare una volta nella vita, Milano: Rizzoli 2018.
Capire la musica classica ragionando da compositori, Milano: Ponte delle Grazie 2020.
Le partiture sono ricette di cucina. Venti dischi che stanno riscrivendo la storia della musica, Milano: Ponte alle Grazie 2020.
Prima la musica!, Torino: Lattes 2022.
Viaggio al centro dell’orchestra. La vita segreta della musica classica tra direttori e solisti, prove e strumenti, disastri e colpi di genio, Milano: Rizzoli 2023.
Storia della musica classica. Il racconto di un’avventura straordinaria, dal Medioevo a Spotify, Milano: Ponte alle Grazie 2024.