music composer

Hi Gianca! We’re so very excited to have you on the platform! A contemporary music composer, that’s quite rare to come by, isn’t it? 

Well, like all the nicest things in this universe, we are not so many haha. But jokes aside, contemporary classical music takes part in a little corner of today’s society, so there are few people who are involved in this practice.

Tell us about the music you compose. What kind, instrumental/ synthetic? 

This is a question that I take close to my heart. Even though today’s contemporary classical music world is a world with very reactive interactions between instrumental and synthesized/electronic sounds; I have chosen for many years to focus on instrumental sounds. The main reason for this is because I dedicated much of my growth as a composer to deepen into the various instrumental practices of orchestral instruments, and because I find a profound value in the interaction between my music and the performer, with whom I become to share our musical ideas in the process of music interpretation. It’s a special connection that enriches the music (and  my soul). I feel that if I sit at my computer and take care of all the process of music production (like how it happens with electronic/synthesized music) that connection with the interpreters is lost. 

This choice comes with a cost. Creating music with live musicians is way more expensive and difficult to manage. And as an emerging all resources are even more valuable and hard to get. For this reason I’ve decided to open up a little bit in this sense and in my immediate future projects will include more synthesized/electronic sound elements. Another reason for this is that today’s music world is affected greatly by technology, so I need to be more active in that conversation.

“I constantly fight with myself in the process of composition to somehow stay away from the common places of contemporary classical music, I like to explore different cultures and even different ways of listening.“ Gianca Liano

Describe yourself in 3 words.

1) Alien

2) Soundscape

3) Koala

What are you currently working on? 

Right now I’m trying to finish a string quartet project that I’ve been working on for many years. It’s a project that reflects all my different composition styles: meta-soundscape, ambient and filmscoring. I’m planning my first international tour with this project, so to be honest I’m very excited about it.

Wait a second, where can we stream your music? 

Hold my beer, click here.
You can stream on Spotify, Appe Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, ecc. (you name it, it’s there)

If you want to buy a digital download of my music you can do it on my Bandcamp page.

I also publish my music videos and live recordings in my youtube channel.

An anecdote you’d like to share with us? 

On a concert we had in Milano for the series Musica Randagia, I presented two of my pieces (which you now can listen on my youtube channel) and at the end of the concert there was a mysterious man who came to the flutist (Rebecca) and asked her if my music was “Neue Musik” (or contemporary classical music), insinuating that it wasn’t. I found this anecdote very satisfying for two reasons. The first: I constantly fight with myself in the process of composition to somehow stay away from the common places of contemporary classical music, I like to explore different cultures and even different ways of listening, this guy asking that question was a confirmation that I somehow succeeded in these pieces! And, the second: the fact that no one is able to identify who that guy was, it became a ghost, a rumor for people to talk about after the concert.

What’s your philosophy in life? 

I find myself very much identified with Taoism. 

“Learn to taste the tasteless,

to grow the small things,

and to multiply the few.”

Why do you think people feel so estranged from what’s bizarre and supernatural? Do you feel this way? 

I feel that if you’re sensible and/or you start walking just a few steps outside the path of today’s society you’ll find how bizarre and supernatural our lives and our energies actually are. Coming from Latin America, our lives are full of bizarre and supernatural things mixed with our daily life. It’s in our cultural dna. In literature people call it “realismo mágico”, but it’s just how life is in Latin America. I feel that the bizarre and supernatural make our lives better, it fuels them with great stories.

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