Composer and choir conductor, Mario Berlinguer (born in Roma in 1961) has studied with Alessandro Sbordoni, and also with Giuseppe Scotese and Romolo Grano. He has achieved a degree in Choir Conduction at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Roma, and a degree in Composition at the Alfredo Casella Conservatory in L’Aquila. In the meantime, he’s always been interested in all sorts of music, from pop to rock, from ambient music to jazz.
He’s therefore a very versatile composer. His classic contemporary pieces for organ,
string quartet, piano, have recently been played by performers such as
Mark Latimer,
Livia Mazzanti, the
Penderecki
String Quartet the
Silesian String Quartet,
Elizabeth Wolff.
Some of his works are published by Taukay.
As a composer of soundtracks, he has written music for theater and radio plays. Recently, he wrote the soundtrack for Bonnie & Clyde (with music by Massimo Fedeli also), and Rasputin, l’ultimo stregone for Radio2 (Italian Public Radio). For both, the publishing company is RaiTrade.
He’s written soundtrack style music, heavy rhythmic pieces, chamber music, vocal and orchestra works, and songs.
Furthermore...
In the years ‘84-’89 he has worked as a teacher at the high-school Liceo Mamiani in Roma, teaching Musical Education, History of Music and Choir Workshop.
In 1989 he has contributed to the creation of the Polyphonic Choir Pharma Pharmacopea. The choir, under his direction, has regularly performed concerts until 2001. He has recently started a new vocal ensemble.
As a Journalist, he has been a contributor for the Portuguese Magazine Ada’gio, Revista de Arte e Cultura. In the early ‘90s, Ada’gio named him head of the Italian office. In the same years, he has also been a contributor for the Italian Magazine Invarianti. He has collaborated with the public radio station Radio 3.
Starting from 1994, he has been Vice Editor and then Editor of the Magazine Suono. In 2001 he left this position in order to move to the USA for a few years. In the US he continued working for the same Magazine, and he also focused more on writing music.