Composer

Sergio Monterisi attended the “Niccolò Piccinni” Conservatory in his hometown, Bari, Italy, where he graduated with degrees in piano, vocal chamber music, choral music and choral conducting, orchestration for band, composition and orchestral conducting (with highest honors). He also holds a Degree in Letters with an emphasis in music history. Monterisi was assistant to the renowned Italian composer Nicola Scardicchio, who encouraged his activity as a composer. In the line of a typically Italian tradition, finding his roots in the high personality of Nino Rota and the school he belonged to, and with an affinity with the French repertoire of the Twentieth century, Sergio Monterisi is the author of a vast production of symphonic, choral (Kyrie, Credo di Perugia), chamber (Tre scene per violino, clarinetto e pianoforte, Canti di rabbia e d'amore per voce e violino), vocal (Fêtes galantes, Il Viaggio) and piano music (Sonatine, Variations aphoristiques), inspired by the need of a fertile communication with the audience and the investigation of the subtle senses of the sung word. His compositions are performed in Italy and abroad.

In 2005 he conducted in Italy his children opera Il Gigante Egoista, which in the French version is included for two seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10) in the Nice Opera program. In 2012 he obtained the First Prize and the Prize of the Popular Jury of the International Composition Competition "Terra di Puglia" for his "Concerto a 11" for piano and 10 instruments, which he conducted in world première in Bari the same year and published by Florestano Edizioni. His opera Schicchi e Puccini - A prologue to Schicchi (Edizioni Wicky Music) was the winner of the first International Composition Competition "Opera Nuova 2013" and made its debut in the opera season of the Teatro Municipale of Piacenza in May 2014 (resumed at the Teatro Savoia in Campobasso in the same year). In December 2015 he was invited by the Gubernatorsky Orchestra of Saint Petersburg for a concert of 21st century Italian music in which his symphonic poem The Legend of St. Nicholas was performed and two arias from the new opera Fantasmi all'opera on a libretto by Magali Thomas. In October 2016 he conducted the first performance of Africa in Campobasso, a musical show for voice and percussions inspired by the production of the poets of Négritude; the show was then resumed in Gambatesa in June 2017 on the occasion of the World Refugee Day, with the participation of a chorus of migrants. In 2016 he founded with Magali Thomas El Sistema France-Opéra Méditerranée, the first section of the international network of El Sistema (the largest project in the world of social inclusion through music) entirely dedicated to opera. Since then he has dedicated himself continuously to the composition of works that allow children a direct approach to opera as protagonists.

In February 2017 he premiered at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes the first performance of his multimedia opera Peter Pan, which was then resumed in 2019 in a more extended version at the Opéra de Nice (as part of the MEDITES European project of the Université Nice -Côte d'Azur) in collaboration with the Orquesta Geraçao d'El Sistema Portugal, and at the Théâtre de l'Esplanade in Draguignan with the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Toulon on a French libretto by Magali Thomas. In 2018 he reorchestrated and produced a new French version of Il Gigante Egoista at the Théâtre Miramar in Cannes (this opera will be translated into Spanish and performed in a new production at the Auditorio del Sodre in Montevideo - Uruguay - in 2021).

As part of the 2020-21 season of the Nice Opera, he creates the participatory opera Circo!; the success of the project leads to the programming in the following season of the participatory opera Babel, also created in Nice with the contribution of the images of the great environmental photographer and director Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The close collaboration with the librettist and director Magali Thomas is also pursued in other areas: from the completion of the opera Fantasmi all'opera, to the conception of the lyric series Divines, an original format of chamber opera "in series", of which he writes the first episodes. In August 2017 his song Cumm 'a mureje won the Critics Award at the Molise dialect song festival, while in October he conducted the first performance of his Concerto della Fenice for bassoon and strings in the auditorium of the Musée Chagall in Nice, in the program of the Festival “Musiques d'aujourd'hui à demain”, with the soloists of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. In 2021 he wrote the symphonic suite Un jour de fête for the various wind ensembles of the Valbonne Conservatory and for the Nice Opera season, Célébration - Une messe pour le XXIème siècle for children choir, mixed choir, percussions and piano.

Compositions

Operas and musical shows

Il Gigante Egoista, favola in musica (Bitonto, Chiesa di S.Domenico, 2005)
Le Géant Egoiste, French versione (Nice Opera, 2009-2010)
Due scene dal "Torquato Tasso" di Goethe (2010)
Schicchi e Puccini - Un prologo a Schicchi, opera in one act on a libretto by Flavio Ambrosini (Teatro Municipale di Piacenza, Teatro Savoia di Campobasso, 2014)VIDEO
"Fantasmi all'opera", opera in one act – in progress VIDEO
Africa, musical show for voice and two percussions (Campobasso, Auditorium ex-GIL, 11/10/16; Gambatesa, World Refugee Day, 25/06/17)
Peter Pan, trans-medial opera, libretto by Sergio Monterisi, French libretto by Magali Thomas (avant-première: Cannes, Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, 25/02/17 ; première : Opera di Nizza, 11/02/19 ; Draguignan, Théâtre de l'Esplanade, 11/05/19)
Le Géant Egoïste, new French version, libretto by Magali Thomas (Cannes, Théâtre Miramar, 1/07/2018)
Le violon d’Orphée, opera for young singers – in progress (2018)
Divines, lyric series – S.1, E.1 : Vingt heures !
Divines, lyric series – S.1, E.2 : Le temps est venu
CIRCO ! - opera on a circus ring, libretto by Magali Thomas (Nice Opera, 9-10-11/06/2021)
El Gigante Egoïsta, Spanish version (Auditorio del Sodre, Montevideo, agosto 2021)
BABEL – participatory opera, libretto di Magali Thomas (Nice Opera, 21-30/06/2022)

SYMPHONIC MUSIC

Angelus, oratorio sur texte de T.S.Eliot pour soli, chœur et orchestre (1999)
Canzone pour voix et orchestre sur texte de Alfonso Palieri (Bitonto, Chiesa di S.Francesco, 2001)
Il volo di notte su Londra, Interlude pour “Peter Pan” (2009)
Peter Pan, suite symphonique (Bari, Campobasso, 2013)
La Leggenda di San Nicola, poème symphonique (St.Pétersbourg, 16/12/2015) VIDEO
Deux airs extraits de l’opéra « Fantasmi all’opera »: « Vado via! » et « Grands boulevards » (S.Pétersbourg, 16/12/2015)
Concerto della Fenice pour basson et cordes (Nice, Festival Musiques d’Aujourd’hui à demain, 09/10/2017) VIDEO
Un jour de fête, suite pour ensembles d’harmonie (commande du Conservatoire de Musique de Valbonne, 2021)

CHORAL MUSIC

Odi et Amo pour chœur à cappella (1990)
Fantasia salinara pour violon, flûte, trompette, piano et chœur (Margherita di Savoia, juin 1996)
Veni, Sancte Spiritus pour chœur à cappella (Trinitapoli, juin1996)
Kyrie pour chœur à cappella (1998)
Suavis virtus, pour chœur et piano (Bari, novembre 2001)
Credo pour chœur à cappella (2012)
Mare nostrum, Hymne d’El Sistema Opéra Méditerranée (Cannes, 2018)
Bienvenue (Cannes, 2019)
Célébration, une messe pour le XXIème siècle, pour chœur d’enfants, chœur mixte, deux percussions et piano (Opéra de Nice, 20/12/2021)

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

Breve risposta alla “Sonatina d’inverno” pour piano (1990)
In bianco e nero pour violon et piano (Bari, 1993)
Suite pour clavecin : Preludio – Recitativo e Pavana – Corrente (Bari, Auditorium Vallisa,1996)
Fughetta a tre soggetti sur « Signor Abbate » de L.van Beethoven pour orgue (Barletta, Cattedrale,1996)
Tre Scene pour violon, clarinette en La et piano (Spoleto, 1999)
Tre pezzi da “Il Gigante Egoista” pour trombone et piano (2005)
Partita pour violon solo: Toccata (2007)
Cantilena pour violon solo (2007)
Cantilena pour violon et piano (2007)
Musiche per Elisarion: Passi nel bosco (cl. solo) – Danza attica (fl., cl.) (2009)
Sonatine pour piano (2010) VIDEO
Variations aphoristiques su un tema originale di Siciliana pour piano (2011) VIDEO
Concerto à 11 pour piano et 10 instruments (Bari, Chiesa di S.Teresa dei Maschi, 2012)
La Leggenda di San Nicola pour orgue (Campobasso, 2018)

VOCAL MUSIC

La vie antérieure pour chant et piano (1992)
Zingari in viaggio pour chant et piano (1992)
Ninna-nanna: Scite, puer… pour chant et piano (1992)
Verani, … pour chant et piano (1994)
To a Stranger pour chant et piano (1995)
I Limoni pour chant et piano (Bari, Auditorium Vallisa, 1995)
Fêtes Galantes pour 2 voix et piano: Clair de Lune – En Bateau – Pantomime (Bari, Auditorium Valisa,1996)
Fêtes Galantes pour 2 voix et 7 instruments : Clair de Lune – En Bateau – Pantomime – Le Faune – Colloque Sentimental (Bari, Auditorium Vallisa,1996)
Il Viaggio pour chant, récitant et 7 instruments: Zingari in Viaggio – Ninna-nanna – Verani, – To a Stranger – Alante (Trani,1997)
Due arie antiche sur des poèmes de Giordano Bruno pour chant et piano: “Ben ch’a tanti…” – “Quel Dio…” (Bari, Auditorium Vallisa, 2001) VIDEO
Canti di rabbia e di amore pour chant et violon: “Costui che il volgo errante…” – “Fammi quanto dispetto…” – “Allor che morte…” – “Io benedisco ogni benigna stella”- “Che maraviglia” – I’ ti ringrazio, Amore (2006-2007) VIDEO
Voi ch’ascoltate pour chant et piano (2008)
Ho tanta fede in te, chanson sur un poème de E.Montale (2009)
Salmo CXVIII “HE” pour chant et piano (2009)
L’assenza pour chant et piano, su testo di G.Gozzano (2010)
Il girasole, chanson sur un poème de E.Montale (2011)
Due canti pour chant, cor et piano: « Non temere… » et « Sicut cervus » (Oradea, 2016)
Comm’a mureje, chanson sur un texte de Luca D’Alessandro (Gambatesa, 13/08/2017)
Still I rise, gospel sur un poème de Maya Angelou (Nice, 01/11/2018)
Loin de moi, chanson (2020)

FILM MUSIC

Sonatine, musique pour le court-métrage de Magali Thomas (2012)
Artefact, Music for a short film (2015) VIDEO
Historia, musiques pour le film de Xavier Ladjointe (2016)
Spleen, musique pour le film de Fabien Carrabin (2021)

AWARDS

Sonatine pour piano – Troisième Prix, Concours de Castellana Grotte (2010)
Concerto à 11 pour piano et 10 instruments – Premier prix ex æquo et Grand Prix du jury Populaire, Concours Terre di Puglia, Bari (2012)
Schicchi et Puccini – Premier Prix du concours international “Operanuova2013” – Piacenza (2013)
Comm’a mureje – Prix de la critique, Concours de la chanson populaire du Molise, Gambatesa (2017)
Peter Pan, opéra trans-média – Finaliste au Prix de l’Enseignement Musical, Paris (2019)

MUSICAL EDITIONS

Concerto a 11 for piano and 10 instruments (Florestano Edizioni, Bari)
Schicchi e Puccini - Un prologo a Schicchi, opera in one act (Wicky Music Edizioni, Milano)
La Leggenda di San Nicola, tune poem (Wicky Music Edizioni, Milano)
Two arias from one act opera "Fantasmi all'opera": "Vado via!" and "Grands boulevards" (Wicky Music Edizioni, Milano)