Nicola Baroni gained conservatory diplomas in Cello Performance and in Electronic Music,
as well as a degree in Musical Aesthetics at the University of Bologna (final dissertation on
Alvin Lucier). He participated in post-graduate courses in cello and chamber music with Franco Rossi,
Alain Meunier, Anner Bijlsma, Siegfried Palm at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, the Città
di Castello Music Academy, the Hochschule Franz Liszt in Weimar, the Festival Casals in
Prades. He has followed stages on musical softwares and Live Electronics at AGONAudiofficine
in Milano and at IRCAM in Paris.
He has developed the doctoral project “ Gesture and listening. Towards a social and ecosystemic
hyperinstrument composition” as a PhD in Composition at the University of
Edinburgh.
He is cello teacher at the “ G.Verdi” Conservatory in Milano. After previous collaborations
with different symphony orchestras he has been undertaken an intense chamber and solo
music activity. His interest in historical performance practice has led him to specialise in
baroque cello as well, and to edit late 17th century music for Ut Orpheus Editions. He is
member of the artistic direction of the MASK association for new music, and artistic
director of the Franz Liszt Foundation in Bologna.
His performance and research collaborations in 20th Century music have involved the
following contemporary ensembles: Octandre, Icarus, Siddharta, Musica Attuale, Musica/
Realtà, Interensemble, Antisonic-Elektronika, FontanaMix, Cardew Ensemble. He has
directly worked with composers like Sylvano Bussotti, Paolo Castaldi, Franco Donatoni,
Adriano Guarnieri, Mauro Graziani, Ivo Malec, Alvin Curran, Igor Linz Maues, Lawrence
Casserley. He is now involved in electro-acoustic music and composition, and principally in live
electronics and interactive performance with Digitally Augmented musical instruments and
real-time Software, involving new compositions and interactive scores. These works were
performed in Italy at the Biennale di Venezia and different festivals such as MASK,
Angelica, Eterotopie, Spazio Musica, in UK, Czech Republic, Germany, South America,
USA and Canada. Discography contains music by Monteverdi, Torelli, Liszt, Malipiero,
Villa Lobos, Scelsi, Gentilucci, Messieri for labels including Tactus, Bongiovanni, Naxos,
La Bottega Discantica, Luna, Rivo Alto. He has published the anthological Solo Cello CD
“Violoncello Italiano.XXI Secolo” with Bottega Discantica label. He is collaborating with
the institutions of research VID-ArtScience in Bologna and Centre for Splecklednet
Computing in Edinburgh.
For many years he has been active in the concert scene playing contemporary, romantic, and
baroque repertoire in Italian theatres such as Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La Fenice di
Venezia, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Politeama di Palermo, Piccolo Teatro di Milano,
Cantiere d’Arte di Montepulciano, Accademia Chigiana di Siena, Università La Sapienza di
Roma, Accademia Filarmonica di Trento, and international festivals in Europe, US, South
America, and Japan. He played at different festivals like Angelica in Bologna, GAMO in
Florence, REC in Reggio Emilia, RavennaFestival, Spazionovecento in Cremona,
MilanoMusica, SpazioMusica in Cagliari, Piccadilly Festival in London, Gaudeamus in
Amsterdam, Music Factory in Bergen, Neue Music in Freiburg, Reykyavik Festival, Lucero
Festival in Paris, Kiev Music Fest, Snyggton in Berlin, Festival Donatoni in Mexico City.
He has hold conferences and workshops on string contemporary repertoires and about the
relations between Improvisation and Live Electronics, among others, at the Kunst
Universitat Wien, the Kunst Universitat Berlin, the Academy of Arts in Gothembourg, the
US Universities of Stanford and Atlanta, Halifax, Toronto and Montréal in Canada, the
Universities of Montevideo and Santa Fè, the Hochschule in Hannover and different Italian
Conservatories.
Nicola Baroni 