ROBERTO CACCIAPAGLIA

Roberto Cacciapaglia, composer and pianist, is among the most innovative figures on the international music scene. His music merges classical writing and electronic experimentation, tradition and contemporaneity, in a continuous search for the essence that unites different languages beyond any genre distinction. His work explores the primordial power of sound — melody, harmony, vibration — as a force capable of generating emotion, knowledge, 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 conducting. During those years, he worked at the RAI Studio di Fonologia and collaborated with the CNR in Pisa, delving into the first computer applications in the musical field.
In 1976 he released Sonanze (Ohr), the first quadraphonic LP ever produced in Italy, marking the beginning of a path destined to fuse 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), an opera in two acts premiered at Teatro Metastasio in Prato and Teatro Dal Verme in Milan.
In the same years, he presented Lamentazioni di Geremia (1988) at the International Festival of Tel Aviv, performed In C with Terry Riley and his Transarmonica at the Aterforum in Ferrara, and composed Aurea Carmina, on a text by Pythagoras, commissioned by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Other major works include 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 staged at the Berliner Festspiele, the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the Spoleto Festival.

In the following years, his research expanded into new forms of language in which orchestra, voice, and technology merge into a single sonic space. Alongside his work in theatre and international festivals, he has collaborated with poets, scientists, and artists from diverse disciplines, exploring the relationship between sound and thought, matter and spirit. Within this field, he also took part in La Milanesiana, presenting projects such as La Dissoluzione dell’Aria (2003) with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, and Mente Radiosa (2005) with Nobel Laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini.

His artistic collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London gave rise to works such as Quarto Tempo (2007), Canone degli Spazi (2009), and Ten Directions (2010), where the symphonic dimension opens up to a meditative and visionary atmosphere.

In 2013 he composed Antartica for the European Space Agency’s Concordia Antarctic mission, followed by Alphabet (Decca, 2014), recorded in the Sala Verdi of the Milan Conservatory.
The following year he created Tree of Life (Believe Digital), the official soundtrack of the Albero della Vita, the symbol of Expo Milano 2015, performed with the Orchestra of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala during the closing ceremony.

Deeply sensitive to environmental themes, in 2017 he participated in Earth Day events in Rome and the G7 Environment in Bologna.

The following year he embarked on the Celebration Tour, performing across 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, premiered in a concert at Teatro Bibiena in Mantua.

In 2021 he released Angel Falls (Believe Digital) and performed two solo piano concerts — at the Milan Conservatory and London’s Cadogan Hall, home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
His music has also accompanied the triumphs of the Italian National Rhythmic Gymnastics Team, the Farfalle Azzurre, Olympic gold medalists performing to Wild Side – Tree of Life Suite (Tokyo 2020 and Kitakyushu 2021 World Championships).

Always committed to education, in 2012 he founded the Educational Music Academy, a space dedicated to young musicians for artistic growth and experimentation.

In 2023 he received the Premio Montale, and the following year he was a guest on BBC Four in the UK, returning in concert at Cadogan Hall.

In 2024 he performed at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall for the world premiere of Incipit / Moz-Art K.488 ReComposed and presented Borderlands, the third single anticipating his upcoming album Time to Be (28 November 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, Time To Be (Virgin Music Group) was released, reaching the top of the iTunes Classical charts in the United Kingdom, Italy, and China. The project marked a pivotal moment in his artistic journey — a sonic voyage toward a new dimension of awareness, and an invitation to be music rather than merely make it.

Presented live in spring 2025 with the Time To Be Tour, which brought his music to some of Italy’s most prestigious theatres, the album reaffirmed his vision of a musical language that bridges emotion and introspection.

In September of the same year, he performed in Tokyo for Bvlgari Kaleidos – Colors, Cultures and Crafts at the National Art Center, and in October appeared in concert in Gorizia to celebrate Gorizia and Nova Gorica as the European Capital of Culture 2025.

He is currently working on his next recording project, scheduled for release in spring 2026.