Composers

He began studying composition in 1980 at the suggestion of Luigi Nono. In the 1980s he attended the "Giuseppe Verdi" Conservatory in Milan, where he studied with Luca Lombardi, Niccolò Castiglioni and Azio Corghi. After visiting György Ligeti's classes in Hungary in 1990, he completed his education at the IRCAM, in Paris, where he enrolled in the "Cursus de Composition et Informatique Musicale" in 1992. His meeting with Luigi Nono, Brian Ferneyhough, Peter Eötvös and Helmut Lachenmann have been crucial in developing his vocation and talent.

The composer's international career was established during his three-year stay in Paris (1992-95), where he received several commissions from the main cultural French institutions, and was finally appointed as a fellow at the "Académie de France à Rome". A composer in residence at Villa Médicis in Rome for the years 1995-96, Gervasoni had previously been awarded many other important international prizes. These include the second prize at the 1985 G.B. Viotti competition in Vercelli, the third prize at the 1987 G. Petrassi competition in Parma, the first prize at the Premio Lario Musica 1988 (held by Iannis Xenakis) in Como, the second prize at the 1989 G. Petrassi competition in Parma, the second prize at the Kompositionswettbewerb Mozart 1991 in Wien, the first prize at Forum 91 (Université de Montréal) and the first prize at the 11. Internationalen Kompositionswettbewerbs Kompositionsseminars Boswil 1995. In 1989, 1990 and 1991 Gervasoni was selected for the International Gaudeamus Music Week. The following year he was called to participate in the Forum Junger Komponisten (Köln), and in 1994 Klangforum Wien asked him to take part in the Internationales Komponistenseminar. In the summer of 1998 he was invited to give a seminar at Darmstadt Ferienkurse and in 2001 he held the master class in composition at the Royaumont Foundation. Moreover, he has received grants from the "Académie Musicale de Villecroze" (Paris) and SACEM.

Since 1992, Gervasoni has regularly been commissioned pieces by the Ensemble InterContemporain, the French Government's Ministry of Culture, the WDR-Köln, the SWF-Baden-Baden, the festival Archipel (Genève), the Festival d'Automne à Paris, the Berliner Biennale, Ars Musica (Bruxelles), the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Ensemble Contrechamps, the ProQuartet Foundation, the Royaumont Foundation and the French Radio. His works have been performed at the world's leading festivals and musical seasons (Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano; Musik-Biennale, Berlin; Gaudeamus Music Week, Amsterdam; Festival of Contemporary Music from Italy, New York 1990; Fifty years of Italian Music, London 1991; Presence, Paris; Woche der zeitgenössischen Musik der Mozart-Städte, Salzburg 1992; Münchener-Biennale; Wien Modern; Festival Musica, Strasbourg; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Saarbrücken; Festival d'Automne, Paris; Wittener Tage; Biennale di Venezia; Romaeuropa Festival, Rome; Archipel, Geneva; Milano-Musica; Ars Musica, Brussels; the musical seasons of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, of the Juilliard School in New York, of the Ircam-Ensemble InterContemporain in Paris, of the Purcell Room in London, of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, of the Tonhalle in Zurich). His pieces have been broadcast by National Radios all over the world. A disk produced in 1997 by Radio France-Harmonia Mundi in the series Music Française d'Aujourd'hui gathers a selection of his recent pieces.

Due to Gervasoni's early recognition as one of the most promising young Italian composers, his production has been published by Ricordi since its very beginning in 1987. His catalogue now includes pieces for orchestra, for ensemble and for voice and ensemble.