Composers

He graduated in Clarinet, Choral Music and Composition at the Venice Conservatory, and in Wind Band Orchestration at the Parma Conservatory. He studied electronic music with Alvise Vidolin. He specialized in composition with Azio Corghi at the Toscanini Foundation in Parma. He also graduated in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, the city where he lives.

He composed nine operas, seven of which have already been performed: El roverso mondo (The Upside-down World) from Ruzante, published by Sonzogno (with which he won 1st prize at the Contest for new operas for chamber music theatre "City of Udine 1995"); Il teatrino delle maraviglie (The Theatre of Wonders) from Cervantes (Lugo 1995); Le parole al buio (Words in the Darkness) from Paolo Puppa, published by Ricordi (with which he won 1st prize at the international contest "Orpheus 1998" of the Experimental Opera Theatre in Spoleto, chairman of jury: Luciano Berio); the Social Theatre of Rovigo and La Fenice Theatre of Venice commissioned him a children's opera - Incanto di Natale (Christmas Enchantment) on a libretto by Riccardo Diana - performed in February 2000. Furlani's "opera-flash" Singin' in the Brain, based on Elena Barbarlich's libretto and freely inspired by Oliver Sachs, was commissioned by the Europa Festival of Ferentino and was premiered on July 2000. His work L'Angelo e il fuoco, (The Angel and Fire) a musical reading - a melologue - of the poem "Giovanna d'Arco" (Joan of Arc) by Maria Luisa Spaziani, was commissioned by the Carlo Goldoni Theatre of Veneto and La Fenice Theatre of Venice. This piece was premiered in Padua on December 2000, as a part of the Jubilee celebrations. His project for a musical show entitled La casa dei mostri (The House of Monsters), from a short story by Maria Vago, received an award at the contest "Quarant'anni nel 2000" (Forty Years in 2000) and it was staged in March 2003 (repeated in 2006), for an audience of children, by La Fenice Theatre of Venice; the score was published by Ricordi. The Teatro Comunale of Modena commissioned him a chamber opera for children (of any age), Il principe granchio (The Crab Prince) with libretto, scenery and direction by Marcello Chiarenza. This "chamber lyric dream" was performed in November 2006 in Modena. The Teatro Carlo Felice of Genoa commissioned him a new chamber opera for children, Il vestito nuovo dell'imperatore (The Emperor's New Clothes) on a libretto by Gianni Rodari. The new opera will be staged at Teatro della Tosse of Genoa and Teatro Chiabrera of Savona.

Some operas written by Paolo Furlani have been repeated on different stages. On 11 September 2005 the melologue L'Angelo e il fuoco (The Angel and Fire) opened the 57th Season of classical performances at the Olympic Theater (Teatro Olimpico) of Vicenza; in December 2004 the children's opera Incanto di Natale (Christmas Enchantment) was performed at Teatro Sociale in Rovigo; in May 2005 a new production of La casa dei mostri (The House of Monsters) was performed at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and was repeated in Florence by the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Theatre (2006).
The Venice Biennale commissioned a symphonic work, Mare monstrum (Sea Monster), that was performed on 21 October 2004 by the orchestra of the Verona Arena Foundation.

The Theatre of Veneto, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Stabile d'Abruzzo and Arena di Verona Foundation commissioned him the stage music for Il viaggio a Venezia, (The Trip to Venice), a play based on Andrea o I ricongiunti (Andrea oder Die Vereinigten) by  Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The play was premiered at Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza in September 2001 and it toured the main cities of Italy for two years.
His score for the opera titled Il birraio di Preston (The Brewer of Preston), based on a novel by Andrea Camilleri, won the 2nd prize at the International Giuseppe Verdi Competition for the composition of a new opera.
His score for the chamber opera for children titled Albero dei violini accesi (The Tree of Alighted Violins), on a text by Giuliano Scabia, won the 1st prize at the "Wiener Internationaler Kompositionswettbewerb 2000" (chairman of jury: Claudio Abbado).

His concert for horn and band Pop-horn-blue won the 2nd prize (1st prize not awarded) at the 2nd International Composition Contest in Treviso. The reed-instrument trio Là, ricordando Beethoven, ci darem la mano (There, Remembering Beethoven, We Will Hold Hands), praised at the contest "Alpe-Adria 1996", is published by Pizzicato Verlag.

The piece mar calmo (Calm Sea), from poems by Biagio Marin, won the 1st prize at the international composition contest of Pianello Val Tidone and is published by Bèrben.
He wrote a book on K. Stockhausen's Studie I (with the co-operation of Paolo Zavagna) for the publisher Campanotto.
Fluttuanti echi (Floating Echoes) for chamber orchestra, commissioned by the association La Nuova Arca of Turin, was performed in Russia and China during a tour of the Symphony Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna "A. Toscanini".
The piece for piano tondoTONDOgiro (Ring-around-a-rosy) was performed, recorded and broadcast by RAI-Radio3 during the festival dedicated by Milano Musica to Gyorgy Kurtàg,.
He taught Composition at the Conservatory of music in Palermo and Castelfranco Veneto; now he is teaching in Florence.
In 2004 he received a fellowship by the Richard-Wagner-Stipendienstiftung of Bayreuth.
In summer 2005 he received a fellowship by the Civitella Ranieri Foundation of New York.