Roberto Sansuini

Roberti Sansuini studied at the Conservatory in his native Parma, graduating in trumpet, music didactics and composition; for the latter, his teachers were Carlo Ballarini, Giorgio Tosi and Luca Francesconi. He subsequently obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Composition at the Accademia Nazionale di S.Cecilia in Rome, under the guidance of Franco Donatoni. In 1993, he won a scholarship for young composers announced by the Italian Authors and Publishers Society, and in 1995, first prize at the International Composition Competition "Valentino Bucchi" in Rome, with a piece for string quartet. Rather than motivating him, this led to long reassessment of his compositional language, which had acquired an extreme complexity that, he felt, no longer represented him. This “crisis” heralded a new phase in which his interest in jazz and "alternative" musical expression directed him toward arrangement and transcription for small and large ensembles.

Roberto’s many and varied collaborations have yielded a large body of works (arrangements, transcriptions and original compositions) for various ensembles, along with wide experience ranging from contemporary music and jazz to music for documentaries and jingles. He has collaborated with many Italian musicians and ensembles, both classical and jazz. His longest collaboration began in 1997, with the saxophone quartet “Saxofollia”, for which he has written numerous arrangements, almost all of which have been recorded on CD.

The year 2014 marked the beginning of a new and fervent creative phase and a full return tocontemporary classical composition. Craftsmanship and the search for a modern but expressive and communicative musical idiom are the hallmarks of his art.

Roberto has won prizes in numerous composition competitions over the years.