Andrea Scartazzini

Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini (*1971, Basel) earned his degree in German and Italian from the University of Basel while studying composition with Rudolf Kelterborn (Basel) and with Wolfgang Rihm (Karlsruhe). In 1999/2000 he also made additional studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

In 2004 he served as composer-in-residence at the University of Witten/Herdecke followed by residency invitations in 2011 and 2018 from the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, and in 2012/13 he was a scholarship recipient at the international artist house Villa Concordia in Bamberg. Awarded prizes include the Study Prize from the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, the Jakob Burckhardt Award from the Basel Goethe Foundation and the Supportive Prize from Alexander Clavel Foundation.

His work is regularly performed at major festivals including the Salzburg Easter Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, Prague Premieres, Stars at the Rhine and others by renowned ensembles such as Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Contrechamps, Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Phoenix, and orchestras including the Kammerorchester Basel, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Basel Sinfonietta, Berner Sinfonieorchester, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Jenaer Philharmonie, Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, among others.

His operas Edward II (Deutsche Oper Berlin 2017), Der Sandmann (Oper Frankfurt 2016, Theater Basel 2012) and Wut (Theater Bern 2010, Theater Erfurt 2006) occupy an important component of his output.

Since autumn 2018, Scartazzini has worked as composer-in-residence in collaboration with the Jenaer Philharmonie. The scope of this project consists of a cycle of symphonic works centred around Gustav Mahler where a movement is composed in response to each of Mahler’s 10 symphonies. With each performance of the Mahler, Scartazzini’s movements will fuse into a large-scale symphony.

His works are published by Bärenreiter.