About Marianna Filippi
Marianna Filippi was born in Vermont in the United States, and has grown up with highly artistic and creative parents. She spent her childhood on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, and the following years in Maine and Vermont. From the time she was born, she was always in the company of animals and nature, and began learning piano from the time she was two years old. From an early age, a fondness of music was instilled upon her, particularly Irish folk, Loreena Mckennitt, and film composers such as Randy Edelman (“Dragonheart”) and Joe Hisaishi (“Spirited Away”). She wrote a multitude of solo piano pieces from the time she was seven years old, improvising themes and creating complex melodies many years before she learned standardized notation.
Her desire to become a professional composer stemmed from these initial roots, and Music composition became clear as her career path when she attended The Walden School of Music, a five-week summer camp for composers in New Hampshire when she was fifteen. There, she composed her first notated piece for small ensemble, The Whale’s Dream, which led to a lifelong pursuit of learning formal composition.
Filippi has since graduated with a Masters of Music Degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark, Class of 2022. There, she studied with Professors Niels Rosing-Schow, Jeppe Just Christensen, and Rune Glerup.
In 2023 she was commissioned by the KGL Theater to compose a new chamber work for eleven musicians of the Royal Danish Orchestra to celebrate the Royal Danish Theater’s 575th Jubilee, which premiered at Den Gamle Scene in Copenhagen in September, 2023. In the same year, she was also commissioned to transcribe four signature pieces for the Østre Gasværk Teater’s production of “Another Brick in The Wall: Part 5”.
Over her six years of academic study, she developed her musical language, primarily inspired by the music of Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Takahashi Yoshimatsu, Leoš Janáček, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmsgreen, Kaija Saariaho, David Lang, and Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi.
As a composer, the core of her musical style is highly versatile, and what she strives to convey in her pieces are themes of environmental conservation, nature, and animals. Each of her works has a story-like narrative, most often inspired by visual art or a natural concept; for instance, her piece for symphony orchestra, Jordens Sjæl, was a versatile celebration of the majesty of the Earth, featuring the word “Earth” in seventeen different languages that are sung by the orchestral musicians.
She prefers to compose intuitively, inventing a storyline structure depending on the chosen instrumentation and concept, and then uses piano improvisation to form her initial melodic and harmonic material, from which the pieces evolve like living beings.
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CURRENT PROJECTS:
“Danish Prehistory: Secrets of the Bog, The Sacrificial Woman, and Those who Sleep in Jewelled Eternity (working title)”, a five-movement piece for accordionis Flemming Viðar Valmundsson.
"How to Catch a Fairy” , an original pedagogic children’s album in collaboration with Kristyn Murphy and the Maine Commission of the Arts.
“Ammonite”, a three-movement piece for classical guitar and electric guitar for Italian guitarist Francesco Rista.
“A Vast and Precious Blue”, for cello octet and sixteen voices with an original text by Portland Maine-based poet, Megan Grumbling.
“Untitled three-movement Love song cycle”, for mezzo-soprano and piano with an original text by Portland Maine-based poet, Megan Grumbling.
Recently Completed Compositions:
“Cathedrals of Nebulae and Ocean Worlds” (2023), for chamber ensemble commissioned for members of the Royal Danish Orchestra, premiered September 2023.
“A Gilded Reverie” (2023), for chamber ensemble commissioned for members of the Royal Danish Orchestra, premiered September 2023.
“Nebulosa” (2022), For Pipa and Accordion. Written for virtuoso Pipa player, Professor Qi Jie, and professional accordionist, Professor José Valente, to be premiered 2024-2025.
“Abyssal Beings” (2022), for accordion trio, premiered 2022.
“Celestial Ocean” (2022), for reed quintet and soundtrack.
“Chauvet” (2021), for chamber ensemble.
“Sympathetic Resonance” (2021), For String Quartet, premiered by London-based Ligeti String Quartet https://ligetiquartet.com/
“Lament for Lost Species” (2021), A piece for Coluratura Soprano, Countertenor, and String Orchestra
“To Maine, With Love” (2021), Commissioned by Maestro Tony Antolini of the DownEast Singers and Bowdoin College, for SATB Choir/Accordion/Piano/String Quartet. Original Libretto by Portland Maine-based award-winning poet, Megan Grumbling.
https://www.megangrumbling.com/
“The Trees Speak Without Words” (2021): For Coluratura Soprano and Accordion Quartet.
RESUME
