Composers

Composer, performer and sound-artist, his work documents natural sonic environments and untouched ecosystems
throughout the world with cutting-edge field recording techniques. Combining detailed lab analysis and eco-acoustic
composition, he creates original music for sound installations, museums, films, contemporary art and new music concerts.
Over the past two decades, he has conducted recordings throughout Europe, Africa, North and South America. During pilot
travels to the Brazilian Amazon in collaboration with Greenpeace (2002) and the African equatorial area of Dzanga-Sangha
(2008) in collaboration with WWF, he began collecting high definition 'sound portraits' of intact equatorial ecosystems. With
these compelling recordings, he composed the eco-acoustic opera Fragments of a Sonic World in Extinction, which toured
theatres and contemporary music venues across Europe and the United States. His current long-term environmental sound-art
and research project, Fragments of Extinction, is now being developed with the aim of collecting three-dimensional 24-hour
cycles of acoustic biodiversity from the world’s three remaining, consistent areas of primary equatorial rainforest.  
 
His music has been broadcast internationally and performed in hundreds of concerts and installations since 1989, including at
Kryptonale (Berlin), Teatro Groggia (Venice), Nuova Consonanza, Tevereterno and Notte Bianca (Rome), La Via Lattea
(Lugano), Community Art Council (Vancouver), Nuit Blanche (Paris), Ear to the Earth (New York), Dangerous Curve (Los
Angeles), CNMAT (Berkeley), IEM (Graz), IMEB (Bourges), Cinematek (OSLO), R. Solomon Guggenheim Museum and
the River to River Festival (New York), Biennale (Venice), WFAE (Corfù), Balance-Unbalance (Montreal), Palazzo Reale
(Milano). Collaborations with visual artists include, Kristin Jones, Livia Cannella and Mimmo Paladino.
 
His research and music have been published by international labels. Publications (2004-2009) include: CD Canto Sospeso
(Domani Musica – Rome, Italy), CD Paesaggi di Libero Ascolto (ANTS Records – Rome, Italy), CD Prima Amazonia (Wild
Sanctuary – San Francisco, CA), CD After the Untuned Sky (Coclearia – Urbino, Italy), CD Eco-Acoustic Compositions
(EMF Media – New York, NY).
 
Honors include the ‘Erato Farnesina’ Fellowship from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the World Soundscape
Project SFU (Canada, 1998), the Fulbright Research Scholarship to work at CNMAT – University of California (Berkeley
2007), and prizes from the Multiple Sound Festival (Holland, 1993), Russolo-Pratella Competition (Italy, 1996), Locarno
Film Festival (Switzerland, 1996). His music was also twice recognized at the Bourges International Grand Prix of
Electroacoustic Music (France, 2007 and 2008).
 
For 10 years, Monacchi taught Multimedia Acoustics at the University of Macerata, and is now Professor of Electroacoustic
Music Composition at the Conservatory of Music of Pesaro - Italy. He is based in Italy and travels throughout the world for
field research, eco-acoustic composition and installation-art, and gives lectures and concerts in Europe and North America.