Donatoni Franco

Franco Donatoni was born in Verona on June 9th,1927. He began his musical education at the musical secondary school of his native town under Piero Bottagisio, and later studied composition with Ettore Desderi at the "G. Verdi" Conservatory of Milan and Lino Liviabella at the "G.B. Martini" Conservatory of Bologna. In 1949 Donatoni completed his degree in composition and band orchestration. In 1950 he took a second degree, this time in Choral music and, in 1951, a final degree in composition. In 1953 he graduated from Ildebrando Pizzetti's advanced composition course at the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia in Rome . He attended the Darmstadt Ferienkurse in 1954, 1956, 1958 and 1961. Donatoni has been awarded the following prizes: Liège, 1951 (Quartetto for strings); Radio Luxembourg , 1951 
(Concertino for strings, brass and solo timpani) and 1953 (Sinfonia for strings); ISCM 1961 (Puppenspiel for orchestra); Marzotto, 1966 (Puppenspiel n. 2 for flute, piccolo and orchestra); Koussevitzky , 1968 (Orts for 14 instruments); Psacaropopulo, 1979 (Spiri for 10 instruments). 

Donatoni's work are published by Zanibon (Padua), Schott (Mainz), Boosey & Hawkes (London), Suvini Zerboni (Milan) from 1958 to 1977, and Casa Ricordi (Milan) since 1977. From 1953 to 1978, Donatoni taught at the conservatories of Bologna, Turin and Milan . He held the chair in advanced composition at the Accademia Nazionale of Santa Cecilia in Rome. Since 1970 he has also taught advanced composition at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena. From 1971 to 1985 he held a chair at the DAMS course under the aegis of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Bologna. In 1972 Donatoni was invited by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst to reside in Berlin for a year, and in 1979 he was invited to give a seminar on his music at the University of California at Berkeley. Donatoni has also held seminars in Switzerland, France Spain, Holland and Israel . Donatoni taught at the Contemporary Music Department of the Scuola Civica in Milan, at the "Perosi" Academy in Biella and the "Forlanini" Academy in Brescia. Donatoni is author of Questo published by Adelphi (Milan, 1970), Antecedente X (Milan, 1980),

I l sigaro di Armando published by Spirali Edizioni (Milan, 1982) and In-oltre published by Edizioni L'Obliquo (Brescia, 1988). In 1985 he was awarded “Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Minister of Culture. In 1990 the "Settembre Musica" Festival of Turin devoted to him a wide series of concerts and a monographic book about his works edited by Enzo Restagno (Turin, EDT 1990). In September 1991 he was invited to Australia by Elision Ensemble to hold seminars at the Italian Cultural Institute in Melbourne. On that occasion the first performance of Refrain II took place. From June to October 1992 "Milano Musica" organised, as a tribute to him, an important programme of his works; during eight concerts, a number of his most significant compositions were performed, including the first performance of Feria II for organ and Bach's Art of Fugue as transcribed by Donatoni for orchestra. The composer died August 17, 2000, in Milan .