"Being a composer means baring your soul and putting every shred of emotion into music.
When you write your music, you write your story.
When you tell that story, it becomes the story of every listener."
Emanuele D’Onofrio is an Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist.
After graduating cum laude in Composition at the Domenico Cimarosa State Music Conservatory of Avellino, Italy (BMus 2017, MMus 2020), under the supervision of Giacomo Vitale, he received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition degree from the University of Toronto (DMA 2023 - supervisor Christos Hatzis), where he also held the position of Teaching Assistant in Music Theory and assistant for the University of Toronto New Music Festival.
Alongside music studies, he graduated cum laude in Modern Arts (BA, 2015) and Modern Philology (MA, 2017) at the Federico II University of Naples, Italy, with a thesis in Musicology and Music History (supervisor Enrico Careri). He held the position of Teaching and Research Assistant in Musicology and Music History at the same University (Department of Humanities).
As a pianist, he has been performing at several public and private events (selection: “Una voce per Pithecusae” Festival 2010, Piano City Napoli 2013, 2015, 2019, “Napoli Cultural Classic” Association, National Theatre Festival of Casamarciano, 2015, Villa di Donato - FAI, 2019).
He participated as a semifinalist in the 2nd edition of the national TV show “Italia’s got talent” (2011). He won the first prize in the “Antonello da Caserta” National Competition (8th edition, 2015).
His music has been performed internationally by several ensembles, orchestras, and performers (Orchestra MIR, Cimarosa Young Sinfonietta, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, Massimiliano Damerini, Piercarmine Garzillo).
He has also been a piano accompanist (InCanto Polyphonic Choir of Naples), choir conductor, organist, and music therapy technician (training at the University of Calabria under the supervision of Rolando Omar Benenzon). In 2018, he was selected as a participant in the Fusion Film Scoring Workshop of Thessaloniki (Greece).
His research interest covers 20th and 21st-century music, musical theatre, the relationship between music and media, and music and contemporary society. In April 2021, he participated in the seminar 21th-century art music in historical perspective organized by the Federico II University of Naples Department of Humanities with the presentation The younger generations and the impact of social media and streaming platforms on the genres of music and musicology. In July 2021, he wrote the program notes for Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore performed in Teatro San Carlo of Naples featuring Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov, and Luca Salsi in the cast.