Federico Gardella
Federico Gardella – Italian Composer of Contemporary Music
Federico Gardella (born in Milan, 1979) is an acclaimed Italian composer whose music has been performed at leading international festivals and concert halls. His works have been featured at Tokyo Opera City, Milano Musica, Royaumont / Voix Nouvelles, Columbia University (New York), Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Great Guild Hall (Riga), Tiroler Festspiele (Erl), Rai Nuova Musica (Turin), Casa da Música (Porto), Łódź Philharmonic, Festival Internacional Cervantino (Guanajuato), Flagey (Brussels), La Biennale di Venezia, and the Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid), among many others.
Recent and Upcoming Projects
In the 2025–26 season, Gardella will take part in pianist Filippo Gorini’s project Sonata for 7 Cities (Sonata d’altura, September 2025). He will make his debut with the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa with Madre (February 2026) and return to the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai with A tempest (April 2026). In August 2026, his new opera will be staged at the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto.
Awards and Residencies
Gardella has won numerous international awards. In 2009 he received the Takefu International Composition Award, in 2012 the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award in Tokyo, and in 2014 the “Una Vita nella Musica – Giovani” Prize at Teatro La Fenice in Venice. He has been composer-in-residence with the Divertimento Ensemble, Fondation Royaumont, Festival Neue Musik Rockenhausen, and was Marcello Lotti Italian Fellow in Music at the American Academy in Rome.
Collaborations
His music has been conducted by Marco Angius, Zsolt Nagy, Tito Ceccherini, Wolfram Christ, Carlo Boccadoro, and Jonathan Webb. It has been performed by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzzelli, and the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra.
He collaborates with leading ensembles in the contemporary repertoire, including the Arditti Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, Hilliard Ensemble, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Remix Ensemble, and the Scharoun Ensemble.
Opera
In 2021 his first opera, Else (based on Fräulein Else by Arthur Schnitzler), was premiered at the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in Montepulciano. Directed by Cecilia Ligorio with stage and costume design by Domenico Franchi, the production went on to open the opera season of the Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia (Festival Aperto/Teatro Ariosto).
Education and Advisory Work
Gardella studied composition at the Milan Conservatory with Sonia Bo and Alessandro Solbiati, and at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Azio Corghi. His artistic path was deeply influenced by his acquaintance with Japanese composer Toshio Hosokawa. Since 2016 he has served as artistic advisor to the Fondazione Campus Internazionale di Musica in Latina.
Publisher
Federico Gardella’s music is published by SZ Sugar.