Giuseppe Federico Senfett

Giuseppe Federico Senfett is a Sicilian pianist and composer, born in 1979. He graduated in piano with the highest marks from the Vincenzo Bellini music institute in Catania in 2003. In 2007 he earned an advanced academic diploma in chamber music, with the highest marks and honours, studying with Marco Grisanti. He undertook music pedagogy studies at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano in 2011. Alongside his chamber music training, he attended composition classes with Giacomo Manzoni, Azio Corghi, Alessandro Solbiati and Piero Niro, and has studied and collaborated with Paul Glass.

He received scholarships from the Lorenzo Perosi Conservatory in Campobasso, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and Milan’s Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, the latter awarded for exceptional artistic merit. In duo with clarinettist Luigi Pettrone, principal clarinet of the Teatro Verdi orchestra in Salerno and a guest player at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, he won the A.M.A. Calabria competition. His solo distinctions include a place in the final of the A.Gi.Mus international competition in 2004, third prize in Pedara’s Gianluca Campochiaro competition in 2003, and second prize in the Città di Rocchetta competition for piano and orchestra, performing Mozart’s Concerto K. 414.

His Frontini recording, Chansons Sicilienne & Piano Works, was positively reviewed by Piero Violante in the cultural pages of La Repubblica. Some of his compositions have been published by Esarmonia in Capua (ARES International), while recordings of his transcriptions for A.V.M. Classical received favourable reviews in Italian magazines, including Archi Magazine. He has recorded for the US label Ablaze Records, including his orchestral work Genesi with the Brno Philharmonic in 2018.

In 2012 an internship led to collaboration with Sandro Di Stefano on the score for Giacomo Franciosa’s film Deline, produced by Cabiria Film & Production. In 2013 he became an assistant to composer Maria Bonzanigo at Compagnia Finzi Pasca. His theatre work has also included composing for Con_Creta, directed by Diego Willy Corna in Ticino. His compositions have received encouragement from musical figures including Ennio Morricone, Paolo Isotta, Sergio Miceli, Fernando Ghilardotti and Lorenzo Arruga.