One of the most promising composers of his generation, Fausto Romitelli, born in Gorizia (Italy) in 1963, died prematurely in 2004 following a long illness.

He studied with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Sienna, and at the Milan Scuola Civica. Beside Donatoni, his first major influences were György Ligeti and Giacinto Scelsi, and later Stockhausen, Boulez, and Grisey. His works from the 1980s, notably Ganimede (1986) for viola, and Kû (1989) for fourteen musicians, already reveal his treatment of sound as (in the words of the composer) “a material to be forged.”

In the 1990s, he continued his investigations into sound in Paris, notably at IRCAM and with the founders of Ensemble l’Itinéraire: Murail, Grisey, Lévinas, and Dufourt. While at IRCAM (1993 to 1995), he participated in the Cursus (IRCAM’s composition and computer music course) and collaborated with the Musical Representation Team during a research residency. The research he undertook there on synthesis and spectral analysis was key in the composition of subsequent works, such as Sabbia del Tempo (1991) for six performers and Natura morta con fiamme (1991) for string quartet and electronics.

A non-formalist, Romitelli embraced hybridisation, obscuring the boundaries between art and popular musics. Distortion, saturation, and references to psychedelic rock (cf. works such as Acid Dreams & Spanish Queens [1994] for amplified ensemble, EnTrance [1995], and Cupio Dissolvi [1996]) characterise his musical universe. The cycle comprising Professor Bad Trip I, II, and III (1998-2000) combines distorted instrumental colours, electric instruments, and accessories such as the mirliton (a recorder-like instrument) and the harmonica, and was inspired by Henri Michaux’s Miserable Miracle and The Major Ordeals of the Mind and the Countless Minor Ones, written while the author was under the influence of psychedelic drugs.

An Index of Metals (2003), a video opera for soprano, ensemble, and fixed media, with video by Paulo Pachini, is Romitelli’s crowning achievement, showcasing the composer at the peak of his creative forces and the summit of his musical language.