BIOGRAPHY

Francesco Antonioni writes music distinguished by intellectual density and emotional transparency. Described by The Guardian as a "composer who knows exactly what he wants and how to achieve it," he has established a distinctive voice across orchestral, vocal, chamber, and electronic music. His work is marked by a post-modernist fluidity—seamlessly weaving the structural clarity of the European symphonic tradition with the rhythmic vitality of contemporary electronics and Mediterranean folk influences.

Francesco’s music is performed by many of the world’s most distinguished ensembles and orchestras. A central work in his orchestral output, Gli occhi che si fermano, was commissioned by the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari and premiered under Marko Letonja, with subsequent high-profile performances at the Venice Biennale, by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano, and by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai under Pascal Rophé. Other orchestral highlights include Giga—originally commissioned by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung to celebrate Hans Werner Henze’s 80th birthday—which has been performed by the Royal Northern College of Music Orchestra under Roland Böer and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano under Xian Zhang. A central pillar of his output, Ballata, was commissioned by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and championed by Sir George Benjamin at Wigmore Hall, followed by major performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai at the Köln Philharmonie under Juraj Valčuha.

His continued impact on the contemporary scene is evidenced by several major premieres in 2025, including Bouquet, premiered in February by the Pomeriggi Musicali orchestra in Milan under Alessandro Cadario, a new work for the Ensemble Modern and a solo piece for internationally distinguished violinist Francesca Dego.

His string writing remains at the forefront of the chamber repertoire. Following the 2024 success of his second string quartet, Surfarara (commissioned by Wigmore Hall for the Castalian String Quartet in 2024, subsequently performed in Oxford, at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, and toured by Quartetto Prometeo in Bologna and Ferrara), his Movimento di quartetto was premiered in late 2025 by the critically acclaimed Quartetto Werther. This work received significant praise for its "explosive effect" and its sophisticated dialogue with the music of Mahler and Schnittke, with critics comparing Antonioni’s ability to navigate musical complexity to the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Giorgio Parisi’s investigations into the rules of chaos.

A composer who pursues creative freedom beyond aesthetic boundaries, Antonioni’s output maintains artistic integrity without allegiance to any particular orthodoxy. His fascination with cross-disciplinary dialogue is evident in compositions inspired by the art of Bruno Munari, such as the "visual cantata" Codice Ovvio – commissioned by Ensemble Modern and staged at the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt under the supervision of Heiner Goebbels— and his chamber works Macchine inutili and Da cosa nasce cosa, that have gained international reach through recordings on Cantaloupe Records and performances at major festivals, including the Venice Biennale and New York’s MATA Festival.

A prolific collaborator for the stage and dance, Antonioni’s large-scale ballet Sylphidarium has toured internationally from Torino Danza to Hannover and Thessaloniki to critical acclaim. In 2025, his work Puls, originally commissioned and staged in 2022 by Bielefeld Opera, was revived at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.

Francesco also features as a performer of his own music, both as a pianist and conductor. His 2024 Brilliant Classics album, My River, features him conducting I Solisti Aquilani alongside Vladimir Ashkenazy. Originally trained as a concert pianist, his Preludi Diatonici have been performed globally by Beatrice Rana at the Tonhalle Zurich, Auditorium du Louvre, and Radio France et Montpellier. 

Beyond the concert hall, Francesco is a prominent figure in musical discourse. As a professor at the Florence Conservatory and the Accademia di Musica di Pinerolo, and an authoritative presenter for Rai Radio 3 and Rai 5, he plays a vital role in shaping the cultural landscape of contemporary music.

Born in 1971, he graduated from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Azio Corghi and from the Royal College of Music, London, where he studied with Julian Anderson and George Benjamin. From 2004 to 2008, he served as the composing assistant to Hans Werner Henze. In 2009, he was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Cornell University. His broad cultural curiosity is further reflected in his degree in Philosophy. His music is published by Casa Ricordi