Maria Gabriella Zen (born 3 November 1957) is an Italian composer.
Biography Maria Gabriella Zen completed her education through studies in both music and humanities, graduating in Piano (1977), Choral Music and Choir Conducting (1979), and Composition (1985) at the Conservatory of Music "C. Pollini" in Padua. She also earned a Bachelor's degree in Literature with a thesis in Music History (1982) and a PhD in Linguistics (2012) from Ca' Foscari University of Venice. Her compositional training, undertaken under the guidance of Wolfango Dalla Vecchia, continued at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Franco Donatoni during the Summer Advanced Courses of 1982 and 1983.
In 1986, her chamber opera L'amore di Don Perlimplino con Belisa nel giardino with text after Federico García Lorca was in the final short list of the Internationaler Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Wettbewerb für Kammeropern 1986 at the Semperoper in Dresden. On March 27, 1993, the Arditti Quartet performed her first string quartet Liederkreis at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. In November 1993, her piece Salmi for solo soprano was among the finalists in the Olympia International Composition Competition in Athens.
She represented Italy in the 3rd Workshop for Artists of the EU organized in October 2003 by the European Parliament in Oslip, Austria, with In der Wüste for mezzo-soprano, contralto, and percussion. In Spring 2004, along with ten other European composers, she participated in writing the suite 11-Eleven, commissioned by the EU to commemorate the victims of terrorism and the accession of new nations to the EU on May 1, 2004, with the XIth movement (Finale: Pax, luminosa Pax). On October 8, 2004, she represented Italy at the Concert of New Music by European composers that inaugurated the Rossi Hall of the reconstructed Teatro La Fenice. Invited to various editions of "Nuove Musiche d'Europa," a contemporary music festival organized by EU-ART-Network at the Apollinee Halls of the Teatro La Fenice, she composed Canzona magnetica (2006) and Die Linien des Lebens... (2007) for I Virtuosi della Fenice (the Septet of the First Parts of the Orchestra).
For the Festivaletteratura in 2007 in Mantua, in collaboration with Gianfranco De Bosio, she realized the complete reading of Virgil's Bucolics: the students from the School of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano "acted-singing" the ten Eclogues accompanied by musicians from the Conservatory of Mantua, in a contemporary reinterpretation of the ancient fusion of music and poetry. (Palazzo D'Arco, Mantua, September 5–8, 2007)
Her project for a new opera, supported by the Italian Institute for Opera and Poetry of Verona, won Funding for the Culture Programme 2007–2013 from the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Union. The libretto of the opera Chronos parádoksos (2007/2010), written with Gianfranco De Bosio, received the VIII Giacomo Matteotti Award from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers on October 17, 2012 (Section II – literary and theatrical works), "awarded annually to works that illustrate the ideals of brotherhood among peoples, freedom, and social justice, which have inspired the life of Giacomo Matteotti."
In November 2008, the Orchestra i Pomeriggi Musicali of Milan, conducted by Stanley Dodds, with narrator Stefania Felicioli, performed at the Teatro Dal Verme the Melologue Ultime rime d'amore on sonnets from the Canzoniere for Bartolomeo Zen by Gaspara Stampa (1551–1554). In January 2010, her video-melologue Il Regno dei Fanes, based on texts from the Ladin legend of Dolasilla and letters from the front by Giuseppe and Eugenio Garrone (1915–1917), was performed at the Apollinee Halls of the Teatro La Fenice. The video was created by Margot Galante Garrone from photos of the First World War in the Dolomites.
The Biennale di Venezia commissioned her, as part of the 54th International Festival of Contemporary Music, Don Giovanni, variations on the myth, seven variations for female choir, percussion, and organ in a faraway room, which was performed at Palazzo Pisani Santo Stefano during the Inaugural Event (Opera-Labyrinth Don Giovanni in Venice) on September 23, 24, and 25, 2010.
She participated in two Contemporary Marathons organized by the Teatro La Fenice as part of the "Lo Spirito della Musica di Venezia" Festival: in 2013 with Canzona a tre on a theme by Giovanni Gabrieli and in 2014 with Tre frammenti da Stabat Mater by Tiziano Scarpa.
The European String Teachers Association commissioned her to compose contemporary music for the opening concert of the 47th International Congress held in Italy in 2019. Variazioni e Corale sulla Follia debuted at the Arvedi Auditorium of the Museo del Violino in Cremona on April 27, 2019, performed by the ESTA String Orchestra.
She has collaborated with important directors of Italian theater (Gianfranco De Bosio, Carlo Cecchi, Bepi Morassi, Stefano Pagin, Damiano Michieletto, Boris Stetka) writing stage music for shows by various authors, from Ruzante to Hugo Pratt. In 1989, she won the Orione New Musical Proposals Award from Rai Radio 3 for the stage music for Le baruffe chiozzotte by Carlo Goldoni in the de Bosio-Luzzati-Calì 1988 edition. From 1989 to 2006, she was the resident composer of the Teatro a l'Avogaria in Venice, with which she participated in many international tours and the 38th International Theater Festival of the Biennale di Venezia in July 2006. From October 27 to 31, 2008, as part of the International Workshop Mediterraneo of the Theater Festival of the Biennale di Venezia, he held the Composition Seminar for Stage Music Studio su Orlando. Orlando by Virginia Woolf, theatrical adaptation and direction by Stefano Pagin, then debuted on February 22, 2009, as part of the 40th International Theater Festival of the Biennale di Venezia. In 2011, the show was resumed in the version for a single actor (Stefano Scandaletti) titled Orlando-Orlando and won the OFF 2011 Award from the Teatro Goldoni (Venice) and, in September 2012, the national Argot OFF 2012 Award.
In October 2006, she wrote the stage music for the complete reading of Il Milione by Marco Polo, with artistic direction by Gianfranco De Bosio and images by Emanuele Luzzati, produced by the Teatro Fondamenta Nuove di Venezia on the occasion of the celebrations of the 750th anniversary of the birth of Marco Polo. The recorded tracks gave rise to an educational DVD in 2008 and were published in open-access audiobook format on September 15, 2021, on the Veneto Culture Portal of Regione del Veneto.
In 1994, she began collaborating with the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Natural and Human Sciences of the SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) in Trieste, directed by Claudio Magris. Two of her lectures were published in the SISSA Notebooks: Natural law, chance, and order: Arnold Arnold Schoenberg from the laws of harmony to the invention of dodecaphony and Fantastic nets – scientific auras in the music of György Ligeti.
She writes production music for Flippermusic and DENEB Editions. Video artists Ila Bêka and Louise Lemoine have used her music for Spirits (2015), 15 videos available on the website of the Fondazione Prada. Her compositions have been published by Agenda Edizioni and Ars Publica.
Major works Stage and video/film music
La Fleppa lavandara by Anonimo Bolognese (1741) directed by Boris Stetka and Gianfranco De Bosio (1987) Commissioned by Rassegna "Il teatro delle lingue sconfitte", Benevento Le baruffe chiozzotte by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio (1988) Commissione Estate teatrale veronese – Orione Prize Nuove Proposte Musicali Rai Radio 3 1989 Il cavaliere Giocondo by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Bepi Morassi (1989) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice George Dandin ou le Mari confondu by Molière in the Italian translation by Cesare Garboli, directed by Carlo Cecchi (1989) Commissioned by Teatro Niccolini (Firenze) Echi di Babele after Ruzante and Samuel Beckett, dramaturgy by Giovanni Boni and Boris Stetka, directed by Boris Stetka for Gruppo della Rocca (1989) Las Spagnuolas by Andrea Calmo, directed by Lino Spadaro (1990) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Lo Schiavetto by Giovan Battista Andreini, directed by Bepi Morassi (1990) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice I due gemelli veneziani by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio (1991) Commissioned by Teatro de Gli Incamminati (Milano) Il ventaglio by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Andrea Dosio (1991) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Insuonio e incantaçion after Ruzante, dramaturgy and direction by Lino Spadaro (1992) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice La finta ammalata by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Bepi Morassi (1993) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Turandot by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Bepi Morassi (1994) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice La Betìa by Angelo Beolco called Ruzante, direction by Gianfranco De Bosio (1994) Commissioned by Estate teatrale veronese Phonés (Voci) after poems by Konstantinos Kavafis, dramaturgy and direction by Stefano Pagin (1995) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Le morbinose by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Bepi Morassi (1996) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice L'alfabeto dei villani dramaturgy by Giovanni Poli after commedia dell'arte plots, directed by Bepi Morassi (1997) Commissioned by Festival d'Autunno of Teatro Olimpico Vicenza Il quartiere fortunato (comic interlude for music) by Carlo Goldoni directed by Stefano Pagin (2000) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Due Dialoghi:Parlamento and Bilora by Angelo Beolco called Ruzante, directed by Damiano Michieletto (2003) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice La fiaba della vecchia comare by George Peele, directed by Luca Ferraris (2003) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice Una ballata del mare salato by Hugo Pratt, directed by Damiano Michieletto (2003) Commissioned by Arteven Il Saltuzza by Andrea Calmo, directed by Riccardo Bellandi (2004) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice I Pitocchi fortunati by Carlo Gozzi, directed by Roberto Milani (2006) Teatro a l'Avogaria of Venice La finta ammalata o sia lo speziale by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Bepi Morassi (2006) new version for the 38th Internazional Theatre Festival of Biennale di Venezia Il Milione by Marco Polo, complete reading in 4 episodes directed by Gianfranco De Bosio (2006) Commissioned by Comitato Nazionale per le Celebrazioni del 750º anniversario della nascita di Marco Polo Eclogues by Virgilio, reading for Festivaletteratura of Mantua, Italian translation by Giorgio Bernardi Perini, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio (2007) Il Milione by Marco Polo educational DVD, artistic direction by Gianfranco De Bosio (2008) Commissioned by Teatro Fondamenta Nuove of Venice and Regione Veneto Orlando: A Biography after the novel by Virginia Woolf theatrical adaptation and direction by Stefano Pagin (2009) Commissioned by Biennale di Venezia La base de tuto by Giacinto Gallina, direction by Stefano Pagin (2009) Commissioned by Teatro Goldoni (Venice) Il Cappotto by Nikolai Gogol, theatrical adaptation and direction by Stefano Pagin (2009) Compagnia Teatrale Trepunti Il Regno dei Fanes Videomelologue (2010) Text and music by Maria Gabriella Zen, video by Margot Galante Garrone Chronos parádoksos full reading of the libretto for the opera by Gianfranco De Bosio and Maria Gabriella Zen, directed by Gianfranco De Bosio with the actors of the School of Piccolo Teatro di Milano (2011) Commissioned by Festival Musica e Poesia d'Europa, Verona Orlando-Orlando after the novel by Virginia Woolf, theatrical adaptation for one actor and direction by Stefano Pagin (2011) Premio Teatro OFF Teatro Goldoni (Venice) 2011 e Premio Argot OFF 2012 Spiriti a video project by Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine for Fondazione Prada (2015)