Born in Busto Arsizio in 1956, Alessandro Solbiati obtained diplomas in piano (under Eli Perrotta) and composition (under Sandro Gorli) from the Milan Conservatory. Simultaneously, he studied with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena for four years (1977-80). In the early 1980s, he won several national and international competitions, and over the past 30 years, he has received commissions from the most important Italian and European institutions. Furthermore, his music has been featured in major festivals and on numerous European and American radio stations, and has been recorded on CD and DVD by labels such as Stradivarius, Decca, EmaVinci Records, Bis Records, Tactus, etc.
His first opera, “Il carro e i canti”, based on Puŝkin, was commissioned by the Teatro Verdi in Trieste for its 2008-2009 opera season. The second, Leggenda, was staged for the Teatro Regio in Turin in September 2011, under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda. The third opera, Il suono giallo, based on texts by Kandinskij (Teatro Comunale di Bologna 2015), directed by Marco Angius, received the Abbiati Prize from the Italian Music Critics in April 2016 as “best premiere in Italy in 2015.”
From 1995 to 2023, he was Professor of Fugue and Composition at the “G.Verdi” Conservatory in Milan, after having held the same position at the Bologna Conservatory between 1982 and 1994. Starting in November 2023, he will be teaching Composition in the Master Courses of the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. His music has been published for 45 years by Suvini Zerboni of Milan.