Italian composer Sylvano Bussotti died a few days before his 90th birthday. Born in Florence on October 1, 1931, he was for a couple of months in care in a residence for the elderly in Milan. Florence was getting ready to celebrate the 90 years of the composer with five days dedicated to his vast artistic production. The event entitled ’90Bussotti. Listening and visions on Sylvano Bussotti’, scheduled from 20 to 25 September 2021 will be held anyway, now to celebrate the memory.
Bussotti studied the violin at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence, later also harmony and counterpoint and piano with Luigi Dallapiccola: studies that he interrupted because of the war, without obtaining any degree.
After the war, he studied by himself, then, from 1956 to 1958, he attended the private courses of Max Deutsch, met Pierre Boulez and Heinz-Klaus Metzger, who brought him to Darmstadt, where he met John Cage. In Paris his music was performed by Cathy Berberian under the direction of Pierre Boulez.
He stayed in the United States in 1964-65, invited by the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1972, he resided for a year in Berlin as a guest of the DAAD for the Ford Foundation.
He has been artistic director of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and of the Festival Pucciniano in Torre del Lago. He has taught history of musical theater at the Academy of Fine Arts in L’Aquila. In 1980 he was professor of composition and analysis at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, director of the Music section at the Venice Biennale from 1987 to 1991.
Since he was a boy he has worked on musical composition as well as drawing and painting; his art exhibitions have been held in various countries around the world.
