I was born in a quiet Italian town near Milano, Italy, and moved to San Francisco in my late twenties. I pursued music and piano studies at the conservatories in Milan and San Francisco, as well as through private lessons. Some of my most cherished memories include my teachers. Ernesto Esposito, my inspiring music theory teacher; Isabella Zielonka, who opened the piano to me; Giacinto Salvetti, who saw my academically-tilting side so early; and much later, Bob Helps, a master of piano technique, along with Julian White, who had so much knowledge about piano and music. I studied composition at San Francisco State University, where I earned my Master’s degree, and at the University of California, Davis.

For many years, my musical pursuits ran alongside an academic career in mathematics as a professor of Bioengineering and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. I got a PhD in science! I spent a a few decades time researching mathematical applications in biology. This dual expertise often prompts the familiar reaction: “Ah! Musicians and Math!” However, I must confess that the connection between music and mathematics seems rather superficial to me. A few composers use some mathematical operators in their compositions and some simple mathematical relationships do occasionally appear in my compositions … kind of buried in the background. But that, seems to be the extent of it …

Eventually I left Academia, and for many years now, I’ve been only doing music. I’m deeply immersed in the vibrant new music scene of the San Francisco Bay Area, engaging as a soloist, chamber musician, and especially as a composer. I am president of NACUSA/SF, a non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of new Music, and I am on the board the Friction Quartet, a member of the SF Composers Chamber Orchestra. I co-organized the Festival of Contemporary Music in San Francisco for many years, co-founded the composers’ groups Irregular Resolutions and Accidental Composers Collective. As a teacher, I offer private piano and composition lessons and teach at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. As a compose, recent compositions include pieces for orchestra, chamber opera, solo piano and violin, two pianos, percussion, and various chamber ensembles. My writing weaves together lyricism, dreamlike and sometimes surreal landscapes, diverse rhythmic patterns, and energetic musical movements. My style is a 21st-century blend of neo-tonality, intricate counterpoint, modern techniques, classical structures. I love to experiment new musical forms.

The unavoidable self-promotion: I have received numerous ASCAP Plus Awards, music grants, and some international composition competition accolades, along with many NIH (National Institute of Health) grants … but that was another life.

The future? Desires for what time is left of this too quick life? Not very much. But I would like to write some good music, and try to be good.