Niccolò Castiglioni was born on 17 July 1932, in Milan, Italy. A composer, pianist, and writer on music, his classic training began in young childhood, when he began studying piano at the age of seven. He attended Milan’s Conservatorio Giuseppe-Verdi, studying piano and composition and earning his degree in piano in 1952. Working with Ettore Desderi, Sandro Fuga, Giorgio Federico Ghedini, and Franco Margola, Castiglioni received solid academic training with a strong neo-classical bent.

From 1952 to 1953, Castiglioni studied with Friedrich Gulda and Carlo Zecchi at the Mozarteum Music School of Salzburg. In the summer of 1953, he brilliantly completed his degree in composition at the Milan Conservatory and, with a fellowship from the Italian government, returned to Salzburg to study with composer Boris Blacher. He began his career as a concert artist, mostly in Milan, but after a brief time decided to devote himself exclusively to composition. In 1956 he attended the Darmstadt Summer Course, returning there periodically from 1958 to 1962.

Over the course of this period, his compositions achieved renown internationally, particularly in Neue Musik circles. Performances of his were conducted by such celebrated names as Pierre Boulez, Michael Gielen, Bruno Maderna, Hans Rosbaud, and Francis Travis. He wrote prolifically in the field of theory during this time as well, publishing a book,Il linguaggio musicale dal Rinascimento a oggi (Musical Language from the Renaissance to Today) along with numerous essays, which appeared in the most influential music and philosophical journals in Italy at the time, including Musica d’oggi, Incontri musicali, La rassegna musicale, Rivista di estetica, and aut aut. His brief experimentation with electronics garnered him a Prix Italia for the radio opera Attraverso lo specchio (Through the Looking Glass. In 1966, he traveled to the United States, first as a composer-in-residence at the State University of New York, Buffalo; the following year, in 1967, as a visiting professor of composition at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; the year after that, in 1968, as Regent Lecturer in composition at the University of California, San Diego; and, finally, in 1969, as a professor of Renaissance music history at the University of Washington, Seattle. In 1970, he returned to Italy, settling once again in Milan.

After several years’ silence, he began writing music again in 1973, and by 1977 was composing prolifically, thanks in part to frequent retreats to Bressanone in the South Tyrol. For twenty years, he taught composition at the Conservatories of Trent (1976-1977), Milan (1977-1989), Como (1989-1991), and again in Milan (1991-1996). His students included Roberto Abbado, Carlo Galante, Stefano Gervasoni, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Giampaolo Testoni. Niccolò Castiglioni died in Milan on 7 September 1996.