Composers

He has been on the move since early childhood, living first in Milan and Rome, on to London, Paris and Mexico City, then returning to Paris where he has resided since 1982.

During his formative years, these numerous journeys increased his fundamental curiosity and drove him into contact with very diverse personalities such as Luigi Nono, Franco Donatoni, Brian Ferneyhough and Tristan Murail. These encounters were often very ephemeral, for his essentially independent nature has always kept him on a solitary path, unencumbered by any adherences or prejudice.

The defining characteristic of Dazzi's compositions lies in the multiplicity of the directions he pursues: vocal works (Contra suberna, a cantata in langue d'oc for tenor, double bass, cimbalom and string orchestra; Icnocuicatl, for mezzo-soprano and ensemble; Klage, a tragic cantata for soprano, children's chorus, clarinets, cello, double bass and percussion; Lichtzwang, for soprano, tenor and ensemble), musical drama (La Rosa de Ariadna, based on poems by Francisco Serrano, premiered in September 1995 at the Festival Musica in Strasbourg and later performed on a tour through Europe and Latin America), chamber and orchestral music (Augenblick, for three bass flutes; All'alba della trasparenza, for violin, cello and accordion, and its version for string orchestra, Lueurs lointaines), pedagogical pieces, music for the stage and screen, sound installations for plastic arts, video art ("Les Tendus des Neiges," a video by Sabine de Chalendar which was awarded the 1992 UNESCO Prize at the Locarno Festival in Switzerland).
It is in theater, in the relationship between words and music, that the essence of Dazzi's highly emotional and lyrical musical language is best expressed. It is not surprising then, that he has collaborated several times with S. Braunschweig, including operatic stagings: Le chevalier imaginaire (Fénelon/Eötvös), Bluebeard's Castle (Bartók/Dutoit), Fidelio (Beethoven/Barenboim).

Dazzi's future projects include L'Enclos, a melodrama for narrator, children's chorus and ensemble based on Armand Gatti's poem (premiered in Chartres on 11 and 12 June 1999 for the centennial of Jean Moulin's birth); the music to Victor Sjödström's silent movie "The Wind" (1928) (premiered at the Louvre Auditorium on 12 June 1999, commissioned by the Louvre Museum for the "Silent Film in Concert" cycle); Meridiana Lux, which combines drama, music and space with astrophysics and moving, luminous staging (premiered in May 2000 for the tenth anniversary of Luigi Nono's death); Fleur Aztèque, a musical tragedy based on a text by Francisco Serrano and two pre-Columbian Mexican poems in Nahuatl; Thriller, a scenic project for 120 singers and ensemble (premiered in June 2000 in Strasbourg and commissioned by the City of Strasbourg for its music schools). Gualtiero Dazzi's works are regularly performed in France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, the United States, Japan, Mexico, Argentina, and won Spain's Joven Orquesta Nacional Award in 1992 with La Rosa de Ariadna.
His music is published by Chester Music.