ROBERTO CACCIAPAGLIA

Roberto Cacciapaglia, composer and pianist, is among the most innovative figures on the international music scene. In his music, classical writing and electronic experimentation coexist, as do tradition and contemporaneity, in a continuous search for the essence that unites languages beyond any distinction of genre. His work explores the primordial power of sound—melody, harmony, vibration—as a force capable of generating emotion, awareness, and spiritual communion.
Born in Milan, he graduated in composition under Bruno Bettinelli at the “Giuseppe Verdi” Conservatory, where he also studied electronic music and orchestral conducting. During those years he worked at the RAI Phonology Studio and collaborated with the CNR in Pisa, deepening the first applications of computers in the musical field.
In 1976 he released Sonanze (Ohr), the first quadraphonic LP produced in Italy, marking the beginning of a path destined to merge the acoustic and the electronic. This was followed by works such as Sei note in Logica (Philips, 1978) for voices, orchestra and computer, and Generazioni del Cielo (1986), a two-act opera performed at the Teatro Metastasio in Prato and at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan.
In the same years he presented Lamentazioni di Geremia (1988) at the Tel Aviv International Festival, performed In C with Terry Riley and his Transarmonica at the Aterforum in Ferrara, and composed Aurea Carmina, set to a text by Pythagoras, commissioned by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. This was followed by Il segreto dell’Alba (Teatro Comunale di Bologna, 1989), Un Giorno X (1990, Conservatorio di Milano) and Le Mille e una Notte (1991), a musical tale performed at Berliner Festspiele, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the Spoleto Festival.
In the years that followed, his research opened to new forms of language, in which orchestra, voice, and technology merge into a single sound space. Alongside his work in theatre and international festivals, he collaborated with poets, scientists, and artists from various disciplines, exploring the connection between sound and thought, matter and spirit. In this context, he also took part in La Milanesiana, created by Elisabetta Sgarbi, presenting projects such as La Dissoluzione dell’Aria (2003) with Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Mente Radiosa (2005) with Rita Levi-Montalcini, Nobel Prize in Medicine.
His artistic collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London gave rise to works such as Quarto Tempo (2007), Canone degli Spazi (2009), and Ten Directions (2010), in which symphonic breadth opens to a meditative and visionary dimension. In the same year he performed in concert with the Dubai Philharmonic for the opening ceremony of Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi.
In 2013 he composed Antartica for the European Concordia expedition in Antarctica (European Space Agency), followed by Alphabet (Decca, 2014), recorded in the Sala Verdi of the Conservatorio di Milano. The following year he created Tree of Life (Believe), the official soundtrack of the Tree of Life, the symbol of Expo Milano 2015, performed with the Orchestra of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala during the closing ceremony.
Attentive to environmental issues, in 2017 he took part in the Earth Day events in Rome and the G7 Environment in Bologna. The following year he embarked on the Celebration Tour, which reached Russia, Europe, China, Turkey, and the United States, culminating in a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York, awarded by Bluebird Reviews as “Best Live Act 2019.” During the same period he recorded Diapason with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London, later presented in the Diapason Worldwide Tour.
Among his cross-disciplinary collaborations, fashion designer Stella McCartney chose his piece Sparkling World for the Spring/Summer 2018 campaign. During the 2020 pandemic he composed Days of Experience, dedicated to the collective experience of that period and presented in a concert at the Teatro Bibiena in Mantua. In 2021 he released Angel Falls (Believe Digital) and performed two solo piano concerts at the Conservatorio di Milano and at Cadogan Hall in London, home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
His music has also accompanied the victories of the Italian national rhythmic gymnastics team, the Farfalle Azzurre, Olympic gold medalists performing to Wild Side – Tree of Life Suite (Tokyo 2020 and 2021 World Championships in Kitakyushu).
Always committed to supporting new generations, in 2012 he founded the Educational Music Academy, created to offer young musicians a place for growth and experimentation.
In 2023 he received the Montale Prize and, the following year, was a guest on BBC Four in England, returning to perform at Cadogan Hall. In 2024 he appeared at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh for the world premiere of Incipit / Moz-Art K.488 ReComposed and presented Borderlands, the third single previewing the album Time to Be (November 28, 2024). The piece premiered at the Scottish Parliament for the Festival of Politics and in Italy at the Sale Apollinee of Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
In 2024 the album Time To Be (Virgin Music Group) was released, immediately reaching the top of the iTunes Classical charts in the UK, Italy, and China. The project marks a pivotal step in his artistic path: a sonic journey toward a new dimension of awareness, an invitation to be music rather than simply make it. Presented live in spring 2025 with the Time To Be Tour, which reached the most prestigious Italian theatres, the album consolidates the vision of a musical language capable of uniting emotion and introspection.
In September of the same year he performed in Tokyo for the exhibition Bvlgari Kaleidos – Colors, Cultures and Crafts at the National Art Center, while in October he performed in Gorizia to celebrate, through his music, Gorizia and Nova Gorica as European Capital of Culture 2025.

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