Gabriella Cecchi (born 3 November 1944) is an Italian pianist, music educator and composer. Cecchi taught music at the Italian State School and performed in a piano duo. She also worked as a music critic for the daily newspaper ''

La Nazione ''La Nazione'' is one of the oldest regional newspapers in Italy, and was established on 8 July 1859. The paper is based in Florence. History and profile ''La Nazione'' was founded by Bettino Ricasoli, interim head of the Tuscan government. Th ...

'' and contributed to monthly magazines. Cicchi's music has been performed internationally, and has been broadcast on Radio

Rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

Tre. Cecchi was awarded the Athena prize in 1988. Cecchi is a co-founder of the Italian Composers Foundation.

Life

Gabriella Cecchi was born 3 November 1944 in Ricco del Golfo,

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

. She is an Italian pianist, music educator and composer. She began her study of music at the age of 16. She studied in

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

, and learned composition with

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

at the Chigiana Music Academy in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

, where she also took courses in Renaissance music and music education. She graduated in 1970. She also studied at the

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

conservatory, from 1974 to 1977, learning harmony and counterpoint. She has been a student of Brian Fernyhough, Francesco Pennisi and

Fabio Vacchi Fabio Vacchi (; born 19 February 1949) is an Italian composer. Biography Training and debut Fabio Vacchi studied at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini of Bologna with Giacomo Manzoni and Tito Gotti. In 1974 he participated in the cour ...

. After completing her studies, Cecchi worked as a music teacher and composer. She taught music at the Italian State School and performed in a piano duo for several years. She also worked as a music critic for the daily newspaper ''

'' and for monthly magazines. Her music includes solo pieces, chamber music and works for orchestra, and has been performed internationally and has been broadcast on Radio

Tre. Her compositions have been published by Agenda and Edipan. She was a recipient of the Athena prize in 1988, and is a co-founder of the Italian Composers Foundation.

Selected works

Cecchi composes solo pieces, chamber music and works for orchestra, often with experimental, multimedia and complex structures. Selected works include: *''Intersezioni'' for piano (1982) *''Assonanze'' for harpsichord (1984) *''Imagenes de la Argentina'' theater music (2005) *''Sères'' for string quartet (1984) *''Favoletta'', instrumental

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cecchi, Gabriella Italian women classical composers 1944 births Living people Italian music educators People from La Spezia 20th-century Italian classical composers Italian women music educators 20th-century Italian women composers