Gianpaolo Antongirolami (1964) graduated in saxophone with top honours in 1986 at the Conservatory of Music of Fermo under the guidance of Federico Mondelci. He then continued his studies with Serge Bichon and mainly with Jean-Marie Londeix. Furthermore, he obtained diploma in Electronic Music and M.A. in Chamber Music.
With a keen interest in research, innovation and experimentation, he has been focusing on the relationship between musical instruments and digital devices since 1994: after he graduated in Electronic Music, he started to research and perform this new fascinating repertoire.
He performs regularly as a soloist and in several chamber music groups and ensembles, with a repertoire strongly centered on music of the 20th and 21st centuries, electronic music and improvisation.
He collaborated with several orchestras – even as soloist, playing, among others, Glazunov, Ibert, Milhaud and world premieres by Italian composers Luigi Morleo and Lamberto Lugli – like Orchestra "I Pomeriggi Musicali" of Milano, Orchestra Haydn of Trento and Bolzano, FORM – Orchestra Filarmonica delle Marche, Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari, Orchestra Ukraina (Kiev), Orchestra "U. Giordano" (Foggia), Orchestra Fabriano Festival, Perugia Symphonic Orchestra.
Antongirolami has played together with renowned musicians such as Terry Riley, Butch Morris, Mike Svoboda, Horacio Vaggione, Garth Knox, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Stefano Scodanibbio, Alvise Vidolin, Marcus Weiss, Roberto Fabbriciani, Walter Prati, Michele Lo Muto, Fabrizio Ottaviucci, Marino Formenti, Daniele Roccato, Agostino Di Scipio, Roberto Doati.
He has performed in very well known venues and festival including Festival Synthése in Bourges (F), Milano Musica, Nuova Consonanza (Roma), Nachtstrom (Basel, CH), ZKM (Karlsruhe, D), Festival Angelica (Bologna), Rassegna di Nuova Musica (Macerata), Firenze Suona Contemporanea, Dissonanzen (Napoli), Area Sismica (Forlì), Lugocontemporanea, Ex Novo Musica (Venezia).
He has been invited to participate to several conferences and events of electroacoustic music, like the INTER/action in Bangor (UK), CIM – Colloquio di Informatica Musicale (Firenze; Udine; Cagliari), Festival della Scienza (Genova), La Terra Fertile (L’Aquila), I Venerdì del Conservatorio (Napoli), Spaziomusica (Cagliari), Acusmatiq (Ancona), MA/IN (Matera) and at various conservatories in Italy.
He premiered more than one hundred compositions, most of which were written and dedicated to him, including world premieres of works by authors like Salvatore Sciarrino, Arvo Pärt, Sylvano Bussotti, Butch Morris, Agostino Di Scipio, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Edgar Alandia, Dimitri Nicolau, James Erber, Reinhard Febel, Sam Hayden, Michael Edwards, Riccardo Dapelo, Andrea Cavallari, Enrico Cocco, Yuval Avital, Mike Vaughan, Nicoletta Andreuccetti, Lamberto Lugli, and Italian premieres of compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, James Tenney, Horacio Vaggione, Franco Donatoni, Giacomo Manzoni, Tigran Mansurian, Michael Torke, David Lang, Maja Ratkje, Graham Fitkin, among others.
He released several cds – Col legno, Brilliant Classics, Ars Publica, Cemat Italia, Edipan, SuonoSonda, Sumtone, Khepera, Rara Music –, and participated in radio and television recordings for the most important national broadcasters.
In 2017, as a member of the Alea Saxophone Quartet, he released the cd Arvo Pärt - Anima (col legno, Wien, 2017). The cd, which collects – for the first time – all the compositions for saxophone quartet of the Estonian composer, has immediately received great response from the public and critics.
Antongirolami is also very active in the pedagogical field having started teaching saxophone in various Conservatories of Music in Italy since 1987. He is currently full professor of saxophone at the Conservatory in Perugia.
He regularly gives masterclasses in several conservatories in Italy and in various international universities including Freiburg Musikhochscule (D), Salzburg Mozarteum (A), Keele University, Edinburg University, the London institutions Laban Conservatoire of Music and the Goldsmiths University (GB), the Conservatorio Superior de Musica in Sevilla (E).