Maximiliano Amici

Maximiliano Amici, a student of Luciano Pelosi and Stephen Jaffe, earned his master’s degree in music composition from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He also holds diplomas in electronic music and conducting from the same institution, as well as a diploma in piano performance from the S. Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples. Following a period of specialization in avant-garde music at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel with Professor Erik Oña, he joined the doctoral program in composition at Duke University, where he earned his Ph.D. in music composition in September 2021.

His dissertation, available on major streaming platforms, is a dramatic cantata for baritone, large chamber ensemble, male choir, and electronics based on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum. Amici wrote the libretto and conducted the recording sessions. In April 2025, DaVinci Recordings released his first monographic album, dedicated to his piano music and performed by Italian pianist Igor Cognolato. His second monographic album, To the Fleeting Water Say, a 60-minute work inspired by the I Ching, also conducted by Amici, was released in October 2026.

In 2014, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI recorded his orchestral work Flowing under the baton of Yoichi Sugiyama. Since then, his music has been performed and recorded by numerous distinguished ensembles, including the Ciompi Quartet, Imani Winds, JACK Quartet, Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble, and Ensemble Phoenix Basel.

Amici joined Duke Kunshan University in 2021 and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Composition. In the summer of 2025, he was a faculty member at the Veneto Art and Music Summit. His music is published by DoNeMus, Curci, and Ars Spoletium.