Originally from Florence, the composer Massimiliano Matesic studied composition in his hometown with Salvatore Sciarrino and Gaetano Giani Luporini, before moving on in 1996 to study in Freiburg, Germany, with Peter Gülke. Since then, he has taught orchestral conducting at the Freiburg Music Academy. Special focuses of Matesic’ work as a conductor, composer and arranger are his collaboration with the legendary rock musician John Lord (whose Concerto for Rock Band and Orchestra he first performed in Switzerland in 2009) and with the Sicilian songwriter Pippo Pollina. His orchestral works include Three Symphonic Images (2004), the Serenata for string orchestra, a Cello Concerto and the Violin Concerto The Anatomy of Melancholy. In addition to chamber music, Matesic has also written a multitude of songs setting poems by Petrarch, Shakespeare, Rilke and Hofmannsthal; he also arranged Schubert’s Winterreise for orchestra. Together with his wife, the violinist Daria Zappa, he has been the director of the music festival “Festival of Silence” in Aargau since 2008.
www.massimilianomatesic.com