Born in Sicily, Salvatore Sciarrino studied visual arts before turning to music. Largely self-taught through independent study of early and modern/contemporary music, he nonetheless received some guidance from Antonio Titone and Turi Belfiore. The first public performance of his music took place in 1962. He completed his studies in Rome and Milan, and was introduced to electronic music by Franco Evangelisti, whom he considers, along with Stockhausen, to be one of his “artistic fathers.”

He went on to teach composition at the Milan, Perugia and Florence Conservatories, and led numerous masterclasses. From 1978 to 1980, he was Artistic Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (one of the most important opera venues in Italy). In 1982, he moved to Città di Castello, a small town in Umbria, in order to dedicate himself to composition and, until 2000, to teaching. In 2014-15, he led a series of masterclasses at the Latina Conservatory, near Rome.

Despite his filiation with major figures of the musical avant-garde, notably Stockhausen, Salvatore Sciarrino feels that his music demonstrates strong historical continuity. His vast catalogue is characterised by a gradual evolution (as opposed to stylistic leaps) toward a musical conceptualisation which has been described as “sonic ecology.” Since the beginning of his career in the 1960s, the idea of a distinct “Sciarrino sound” was already present.

His music is intimate, focused and refined, sustained by microvariations in sonic structures comprising rich timbres and breaths. He developed a sonic universe which is transparent, rarefied and near silence (or “sound zero,” which, for the composer, is also music); it is built upon a multitude of microscopic sounds and almost imperceptible noises, and is reduced to only what is absolutely essential. His works are also marked be the eloquence of their titles, e.g., Esplorazione del bianco (1986) or Cantare con silenzio (1999).

The composer structures his works in the same way that one draws lines on a piece of paper, applying shades to sounds, fusing colours and exploring the light in his timbral modeling. This approach, emulating techniques applied in the visual arts, is particularly salient in works such as Morte di Borromini (1988) and Omaggio a Burri (1995).

Vocal works figure prominently in Sciarrino’s catalogue, from novel experimental writing in Lohengrin, to Libro notturno delle voci (2009) for flute and orchestra, in which the voice is evoked in the instrumental writing, to works characterised by melodic continuity which reflects the psyches of the characters, as in Luci mie traditrici (1998), Macbeth (2002), and most notably, Infinito nero (1998), based on the mystical visions of Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi. Sciarrino’s desire to unify poetry and music (to which direct reference is made in the title of Cantiere del poema [2011], a setting of texts by Petrarch and Foscolo) is a recurrent feature in his work. In contrast, other vocal works often make use of commonplace language, albeit with irony, as in, for example, his setting of railway station announcements in Senza sale d’aspetto (2011), which were also included in the libretto (written by the composer) of his opera in one act, Superflumina (2010).

Salvatore Sciarrino has been awarded numerous accolades, including the ISCM Prize (1971 and 1974), the Dallapiccola Prize (1974), the Anno Discografico Prize (1979), Psacaropoulos (1983), the Abbiati Prize (1983), Premio Italia (1984), the Prince Pierre de Monaco Prize (2003), the Feltrinelli International Prize (2003), the Prize of the State of Salzburg (2006), the Premio Frontiere della Conoscenza per la musica from the BBVA Foundation (2011), the Premio Una vita per la musica from Teatro La Fenice - Associazione Rubenstein di Venezia (2014), and the Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale Musica for his life’s work (2016).