Composer / Conductor (Venice, Italy)
Born in Venice in 1970, Mancuso studied piano at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory, Venice, with Wally Rizzardo, composition at the International Composition Courses, Città di Castello (Perugia 1990 and 1991) and at the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna (1991-1992) with Salvatore Sciarrino.
Mancuso followed graduate courses in chamber music at the “Incontri col Maestro” Academy of Imola, where he studied with Dario de Rosa, Maureen Jones, Pier Narciso Masi, receiving a diploma with special mention. He continued his studies in Milan at the Scuola Civica with Renato Rivolta, concentrating on contemporary music. He studied jazz with Umberto de Nigris.
Giovanni Mancuso since, has developed a busy concert career both as pianist and as conductor; his recent engagements have been in Italy, Portugal, Lebanon and Norway. He has recorded for the Norwegian Broadcasting Company and for the RAI, Italian national Radio.
He has won many composition competitions, among which: the Grieg Memorial in Oslo, the Città di Rende, the Castagneto Carducci in Livorno, and has received special mention for others, the “Athenaeum N.A.E.” of Rome, the “Contemporanea Neopolesis” of Palermo competitions.
His compositions have been played on the radio in several countries, Italy, France, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, Lebanon, U.S.A. Some of his compositions are published by Edipan, Rome, by CMP, Pescara-Brussels, and by Senz’h Edizioni, Rome; he was commissioned to write a string quartet by the Venice Biennale 2001.
Mancuso is founder and leader of the ensemble Laboratorio Novamusica, which enjoys a busy concert life, Mancuso conducting and performing as pianist. He has conducted many world premieres, among which works by Fabio Nieder, Olga Neuwirth, Luca Mosca, Lars Graugaard, Betty Olivero; the ensemble, with Mancuso conducting, featured in the festival “L’Altra Scena” in Venice in 1999 and in the festival “Biennale Musica” in Venice in 2000.
