Works

He is graduated in architecture at the Politecnico in Milan, and in art, music and drama in Bologna.
In parallel with his university work, he pursued musical studies in Milan: he gained a diploma in composition with Brian Ferneyhough at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1986.
He has written for numerous publications, both in Italy and abroad, on Schumann, Schoenberg and expressionism, Ferneyhough, and other topics from contemporary musical life.
He took part in the Ferienkurse in Darmstadt in 1982 and 1984, then from 1986 in the role of guest composer (when he was awarded the Kranichstein Prize).

His music has been performed - amongst other places - at the Ferienkurse in Darmstadt, at Autunno Musicale in Como, at Chigiana Novità in Siena, at Musica nel nostro tempo in Milan, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam, at the Festival Antidogma in Turin, in Mexico City, at the Festival Aspekte in Salzburg, at the Rassegna di Nuova Musica in Macerata, at the convention "Dialogo con Maderna", by RAI in Milan, at the De Zaak Maderna festival in Rotterdam, at the Nuova Consonanza festival in Rome, at the "Latina Musica Oggi" festival, at the Beckett Theater in Melbourne, at the Ars Musica festival in Brussels, and at the Auditorium du Châtelet in Paris, at the Festival Milano Musica, at the Rassegna "Musica Presente" in Milan. Interpreters of his music have included P.-Yves Artaud, Roham de Saram, Cinzia Barbagelata, Aldo Bennici, Maurizio Ben Omar, Bruno Canino, Corrado Canonici, Massimiliano Damerini, Christophe Desjardin, Maurizio Barbetti, Andrea di Renzo, Roger Heaton, Isabelle Hureau, Garth Knox, Barbara Maurer, Thierry Miroglio, Brenda Mitchell, Anna Maria Morini, Rocco Parisi, Enzo Porta, Marco Rogliano, Stefano Scodanibbio, Sonia Sigurtà, the Arditti String Quartet, the Het Nieuw Ensemble, the Ensemble Exposé, the Logos Ensemble, the Ensemble InterContemporain, the Orchestra dell'Angelicum, Ed Spanjaard, Arturo Tamayo, Hans Zender, Denis Cohen, the Elision Ensemble, Emilio Pomarico, the Echo Ensemble, the Divertimento Ensemble (Sandro Gorli), David Robertson, the Het Quartet, the Ensemble Nuove Sincronie (Renato Rivolta), the Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Varèse and the Ultima Festival - CIKADA Ensemble.
Fables and de l'istant où were selected by the ISCM in Hong Kong and Mexico City.

He has recently completed Schwelle, a chamber opera inspired by Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus, and Le città invisibili, loosely based on Calvino's text, an electronic work commissioned by IRCAM for the Ensemble InterContemporain.
He has taught at the Ferienkurse in Darmstadt and at the Centre de Formation Doctorale Musique et Musicologie du XX e siècle (École Pratique des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and IRCAM).
He has been the coordinator, since its foundation, of the Department of Contemporary Music of the Civica Scuola di Musica in Milan.
He teaches history of music at Milan Conservatory.