Michele Catania

Michele Catania (b. 1984), music, piano, synthesizers, electronics: is a Sicilian composer from Milazzo.

Demonstrating particular musical skills since childhood, he was initially self-taught with the help of his maternal uncles, after the Classical High School he graduated from Dams Musica in Bologna (with a dissertation on "The sources of Madame Butterfly of Belasco", 2010).Subsequently he graduated with a in Musicology at the University of Palermo ("Music for film: the relationship between composer and director", 2014) and obtained another Master’s in Composition ("Preludio à Mylaedo" for piano and orchestra, 2017) at the Messina Conservatory under the guidance of M ° Carmelo Chillemi, after having followed the traditional course in Messina, Reggio Emilia, Bologna and Palermo. He also attended seminars and masterclasses in composition, jazz, choral music, conducting, improvisation, with maestros such as Fabrizio De Rossi Re, Filippo Maria Bressan, Voicu Popescu, Giovanni Renzo, and at important institutions such as Le Altre Note and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama of London.
In 2021 he obtained the II level Master’s in Film Music Composition conceived and coordinated by M° Marco Biscarini from the Conservatory of Rovigo, with teachers such as Daniele Furlati, Cristiano Alberghini, Giuliano Taviani, Franco Piersanti, Norman Ludwin, Yati Durant.
Active since adolescence as a pianist, guitarist and singer, he regularly performs in the most famous live music venues in Sicily and Calabria, with music ranging from pop / rock to jazz.
In the chamber sector he regularly holds concerts with different ensembles, preferring contemporary repertoires and original or rearranged music. He also performed as a concert pianist with the Vittorio Emanuele Orchestra.
As a composer he collaborates with the Cantica Nova Vocal Ensemble, the Albatros Trio, the Vittorio Emanuele Theater Orchestra, Marco Alibrando, Stefano Parrino. His compositions, transcriptions and arrangements have been performed in Italy (Festival Le Altre Note, International Choral Festival InCanto Mediterraneo, Palazzo Ducale in Genoa, Casa dell'Architettura in Rome, Conservatories of Messina and Genoa) and abroad (Istituto Italiano di Culture in Hong Kong, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art in Corby, University of Bremen).
Author of music for theater, commercials, documentaries and films, he collaborates as assistant, arranger, orchestrator and programmer for the film composers Marco Werba and Giuliano Taviani & Carmelo Travia in national and international film productions.
He composed the original music for "This is Me" (Paolo Scarfò, official documentary of the Italian Pavilion of Expo 2015), the short film "Stella di Mare" (Salvatore Arimatea, Premio Tindari 2013), the documentary "The Wind Decides" (Giuseppe Consales, VITA Mention at Milan Independent Film Festival 2014), the short film "Fiori" (Kristian Xipolias, Rai Cinema Channel Award at RIFF 2022), and the tangos composed for "Dancing the Silence" (Salvatore Arimatea, soundtrack published in 2015 by Dughero / Warner Chappell) .
Since 2019 he has been a music teacher at the IC Novara di Sicilia School (ME), and holds courses in composition, applied music, improvisation and musical technologies.