Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio , 1925-2003, Italian composer, b. Oneglia. After studying at the Milan Conservatory and working as a coach and conductor in Italian opera houses, Berio was introduced in 1952 to serial music by Luigi Dallapiccola , and a nondoctrinaire serialism subsequently pervaded his music. In 1954, he began working in electronic music at Milan Radio with Bruno Maderna , and founded the Studio di Fonologia Musicale, an important electronic music center. Despite the uncompromising modernism of his innovative and analytically avant-garde compositions, their richly sensuous sound colorings and dramatic power made them popular with concert audiences.

Among Berio's many works are Sequenzas I-XIII (1957-94), each a virtuoso piece for a different solo instrument and one (1966) for the soprano voice; Circles, settings of poems of E. E. Cummings for mezzo-soprano, harp, and percussion; several pieces with texts taken from James Joyce 's work; Visage (1961), for electronically manipulated voice; Sinfonia (1968), for orchestra and voices; Opera (1970, rev. 1977), for mixed media; La vera storia (1982), an opera with acrobats and a wordless soprano; Ofanim (1988), for voices, instruments, and electronics; and two operas, Outis (1996) and Cronaca del Luogo (1999). In the late 1980s Berio, who was also an influential teacher, founded the Centro Tempo Reale, a Florence new music center for research, production, and training.

Berio, Luciano (1925–2003) Italian composer. He was in the forefront of post-war avant-garde composers, and used electronic and chance effects in many of his works, which include Nones (1953), Différences (1958–60), Visage (1961), Sinfonia (1968), and Opera (1970). He also wrote a series of virtuosic Sequenzas for solo instruments (1958–84).