Tutino Marco, *30 May 1954 Milan, Italian composer. He studied flute and composition at the Milan Conservatory with G. Manzoni (diploma in 1982). By the 1980s, he had established himself as one of the most distinguished composers of the younger Italian generation. His opera La lupa, commissioned by the Sonzogno publishing house and intended for performance with P. Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana, brought him considerable acclaim in 1990. From 1998 to 2002, Tutino was composer-in-residence at the Fondazione Arena – Teatro Filarmonico di Verona. In 2002, he became artistic director of the Teatro Regio in Turin. He also teaches harmony and counterpoint at the Milan Conservatory.
Even in his early work (Stanze), Tutino distanced himself from the avant-garde, opposed its hermeticism, and became one of the leading representatives of the postmodern movement in Italian music. He freely utilised various styles and techniques of music from the past, weaving them into the context of the present; his compositions ranged from neo-Baroque to rock and pop, from “minimal music” to Russian folklore (Pugachev) and Argentine tango (Tangoscuro). Tutino’s aesthetic and his pursuit of a “veristic” synthesis are perfectly captured in the opera La lupa, in which the present collides with the past, and a wide variety of musical genres meet on equal footing, including traditional operatic arias and fragments straight from musicals, structurally complex episodes, and quotations from hits by popular Italian singers. Tutino also employs similar methods in his instrumental and orchestral works, designed to facilitate the connection with listeners that is essential for the contemporary composer.
Compositions
for orchestra:
Andrea, o i ricongiunti, symphony 1980
La foresta incantata 1982
Poemetto d’estate for piano, string trio and orchestra, 1982
Sinfonietta 1994
for chamber orchestra:
Stanze 1979
Visite guidate 1984
Chimera for flute and string orchestra, 1988
Il giardino segreto for string orchestra, 1990
Ferite leggere for big-band, 1984
Arie for big-band, 1987
chamber:
Quintetto d’ombre for clarinet and string quartet, 1979
Trio cantato for string trio, 1980
Concerto for violin and 7 wind instruments, 1982
Gran partita for 10 wind instruments, 1982
Light Sonata for 10 performers, 1983
Invito alle danze for flute, guitar and piano, 1983
Tangoscuro for violin, guitar, bandoneon, piano and double bass, 2000
Alto for flute, cello and vibraphone, 2001
for solo instruments:
2 nottumi for piano, 1980
Mad Time Rag for piano, 1983
Nella voliera for 4 hands, 1982, version for string orchestra, 1982
Improvviso for harp, 1981
The Game is Over for flute, 1983
The Game is Lost for clarinet, 1985
The Game is Broken for oboe, 1988
Chimera sola for violin, 1989
vocal-instrumental:
for voice and piano
2 arias for voice and piano, words by G. Pontiggia, 1989
2 canti antichi for voice and piano, 1989
Tutti li miei penser for soprano, flute, clarinet and string quartet, words from Dante’s Vita nuova, 1981
Fantasmi rapiti for soprano and chamber orchestra, words by G. Pontiggia, 1989
Friedrich Lieder for soprano, reciter and orchestra, words by G. Di Leva and others, 1992
Black Beauty, choral rhapsody for soprano, choir and orchestra, words by E. Herbert and J. Donne, 1986
Pugachev, melodrama for tenor, choir, reciter and orchestra, words by G. Di Leva, 1997
Canto di pace for tenor, choir and orchestra, words by K. Wojtyła and the composer, 2003
scenic:
Pinocchio, opera, libr. L. Brunetta after C. Collodi, 1984, staged in Genua, 1985
Cirano, opera, libr. D. Bramati after E. Rostand, 1987, staged in Alessandria 1987
Vite immaginarie, “dramma concertante”, libr. G. Di Leva after Schwob and others, 1989, staged in Modena 1990
La lupa, opera, libr. G. Di Leva after G. Vergi, 1990, staged in Livorno 1990
Vita, opera, libr. P. Valduga after M. Edison, 2002, staged in Milan 2003
Il gatto con gli stivali, musical after Ch. Perrault, staged in Verona 1992
Peter Pan, “dialogo concertante” for instrumental sextet, actors, singers and orchestra, libr. M. Serra after J.M. Barri, 1999, staged in Verona 2002
Le bel indifférent, opera, libr. the composer and P.L. Pizzi after J. Cocteau, staged in Macerata 2005
Dylan Dog, “azione coreografica” for soprano, clarinet, actors, dancers and orchestra, 1999, staged in Verona 1999
***
Cose preziose for flute and live electronics, 2000
