Mauro Cardi

In the following years it realized the live soundtracks for the silent movies: Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei (1913) by Eleuterio Rodolfi, Ricatto (Blackmail, 1929) by Alfred Hitchcock, Inferno (1911) by Francesco Bertolini, Giuseppe de Liguoro e Adolfo Padovan (awarded the "Premio speciale AITS per il migliore suono anno 2011"‚ by the Associazione Italiana Tecnici del Suono), Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1919) by Robert Wiene.

Mauro Cardi (born July 22, 1955, in Rome, Italy) is an Italian composer.

Trained at the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatoire of Rome, under the guidance of Irma Ravinale, Gino Marinuzzi jr., Guido Turchi, he graduated in composition, instrumentation for wind orchestra and choral music.

In 1982, he received his first international recognition, winning the "Valentino Bucchi Prize" with Melos, for soprano and orchestra.

Crucial was the encounter with Franco Donatoni, with which he furthered his education at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana of Siena.

In 1984, he attended the Darmstädter Ferienkurse.

In the same year his composition Les Masques, Quattro Bagatelle for flute viola and guitar, was awarded the prestigious Gaudeamus Prize in Amsterdam.

In 1987, he was selected to represent Italy at the International Rostrum of Composers by UNESCO.

In 1988, he won the second prize at the International Competition Gian Francesco Malipiero with In Corde, for orchestra.

He composed also several works commissioned by institutions and associations such as: RAI, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Biennale di Venezia, Ravenna Festival, Ville de Genève, Fondazione Malipiero, Centro Studi Armando Gentilucci, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Nuova Consonanza.

While his early works have been influenced by Donatoni, to which he devoted also an extensive analytical study, Mauro Cardi soon developed his individual style, focusing his research on "musical forms moulded by timbre and sound intuitions, with unexpectedly expressive moments".

His poetics reflects his natural aptitude to contrapuntal writing and his fascination with logic and the symbolic value of numbers, attracted to the playful dimension involved in composing.

Since the 1990s, he has been involved in electroacoustic and computer music, collaborating with the electroacoustic music centres Agon in Milan, Centro Ricerche Musicali in Rome, Istituto Gramma in L'Aquila.

He composed two radio operas commissioned by RAI: in 1994 Temperatura esterna on a text by Michele Mari and, in 1996, La mia puntualità fu un capolavoro on a text by Marco Lodoli.

In 1995, on a commission by the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, he composed his first opera, Nessuna Coincidenza, one-act stage action with music.

In 1995 was chosen by IRCAM for the international stage, in 1997 Manao Tupupao has been selected as a finalist at the 24th Electroacustique Music Competition of Bourges, and in 2009 Alba, for zarb and electronics, was chosen by the International Computer Music Conference of Belfast.

In 1998 BMG Ricordi published the monographic CD Manao Tupupau, containing his major works of the 1990th.

From 2000 to 2008, on a commission of the 52nd Biennale di Venezia, he composed Oggetto d'amore, a cycle of seven musical scenes on texts by Pasquale Panella, premiered in Venezia and published in CD format by RAI Trade in 2009, which concludes his long collaboration with Sonia Bergamasco and the Freon Ensemble.

In 2001, he joined the composers collective Edison Studio in Rome, one of the most active centres for production of electroacoustic music in Italy, with which he experimented a collective composing practice.

With Edison Studio, Mauro Cardi participated in the International Computer Music Conference 2002 (Gothenburg) and 2003 (Singapore).

Since 2021 Mauro Cardi has been on the executive committee of Nuova Consonanza from 1988, of which he has been President from 1999 to 2001.

Founding member of the "Scuola popolare di musica di Testaccio" (Rome), he has taught Composition at the Conservatories of L'Aquila and Florence and from 2021 at the Conservatory “Santa Cecilia” in Rome.

He gives seminars and composition workshops in Italy and abroad.

Mauro Cardi's compositions have been published by: Casa Ricordi, RAI Trade, Curci, Edipan, Ut Orpheus, Semar, Sconfinarte, Taukay; and have been recorded by the labels: Ricordi, RCA, BMG Ariola, Nuova Fonit Cetra, RAI Trade, Edipan, Adda Records, Happy New Ears, Il manifesto, CNI, Taukay.

In 2008, Edison Studio published its first DVD, resulting from the collaboration with the video makers Latini and Di Domenico.

In 2011 and 2016 these two soundtracks have been published on DVD in 5.1 surround version by the Cineteca di Bologna in the "Il Cinema ritrovato" series.

A study has been published on Edison Studio's works: "Il silent film e l'elettronica in relazione intermediale", edited by Marco Maria Gazzano.

In 2019 Mauro Cardi returns to musical theater with Il Diario di Eva, a semi-scenic opera for dancer / actress, soprano and ensemble, on a text freely taken from the homonymous story by Mark Twain (GAMO International Festival, Certosa di Firenze) and in 2021 he composed, on a libretto by Guido Barbieri, the one-act and six chapters opera Le ossa di Cartesio, for actor, three singers and large ensemble, commissioned by Opera InCanto, performed in Terni and Rome for Nuova Consonanza.