MARCO STROPPA masterclass 2026

INTERNATIONAL COMPOSITION MASTERCLASS

with

MARCO STROPPA

18 – 23 August 2026

TRENTO – ITALY

Rules INTERNATIONAL COMPOSITION MASTERCLASS with MARCO STROPPA

 

Motocontrario organizes, within the Festival Contrasti 2026, an international composition masterclass held by Marco Stroppa, acclaimed as one of the most significant authors in the contemporary musical creation panorama.

The masterclass is open to composers of all ages and nationalities and is scheduled along six days and includes:

  • individual and collective composition classes,
  • a public lecture held by Marco Stroppa,
  • five concerts held by Quartetto Maurice, Ensemble Nuove Musiche, MusikFabrik and Ensemble MotoContrario,
  • reading session, by MotoContrario Ensemble, of the scores of the selected composers,
  • final concert with students works by Ensemble MotoContrario

REGISTRATION RULES

EFFECTIVE STUDENTS (10 places): € 400*

The attendance fee includes individual and collective composition lessons and activities with Marco Stroppa and all the events included on the masterclass schedule. Instructions for registration as an effective student can be found at the bottom of the page.

*For attendance, each effective student is asked to join Motocontrario as associate member (subscription period: 1 year). We remind that Motocontrario is a regularly registered, apolitical, non-denominational and non-profit cultural association, whose sole purpose is the study and divulgation of contemporary music. The membership quote is included in the attendance fee for the masterclass.

  • AUDITORS: 80 €

Auditors are guaranteed access to all the events of the masterclass (including individual lessons for effective students) they wish to attend.

Classes and all the events will take place in TrentoLab Space, via Gianantonio Manci, 2 – 38122 – Trento – Italia.

To register for the selection as an effective student, the following documentation must be sent WITHIN 23:59 (UTC+2) OF 12 APRIL 2026:

  1. link to at least two (2) scores for different instrumentation (solo, chamber ensemble, big ensemble…) in pdf format uploaded online;
  2. link to the recordings of the scores (NOT mandatory)
  3. artistic and academic curriculum vitae

    NB: The files will not be downloaded immediately, so it is essential that the links and the possibility of downloads remain active!

The documentation must be sent exclusively by filling in the Google Form at the following link:

https://forms.gle/DWfHkGjx6duHQ3gB6

The selection, personally supervised by the guest teacher, will take place by 30 APRIL 2026.

All participants will be notified of the results by e-mail and at the same time will receive information for the payment of the registration fees which, under penalty of loss of place, will be completed by 8 days from confirmation.

Each candidate can choose to register as an effective student and, in case of non-selection, can consequently communicate the decision to participate as an auditor.

To participate as an auditor, an application for participation should be submitted to the email address:

masterclass@motocontrario.it

by the day before the start of the activity in which you want to participate.

MARCO STROPPA

Composer, researcher, and teacher Marco Stroppa (Verona, 1959) studied music in Italy, specializing in piano, choral music and conducting, composition, and electronic music. He furthered his studies at MIT’s Media Laboratory, focusing on computer science, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence. From 1980 to 1984, he worked at the Centre for Computational Sonology in Padua, where he composed Traiettoria, a work that immediately achieved considerable success and continues to be regularly performed.

In 1982, Pierre Boulez invited him to join IRCAM in Paris, starting a collaboration that has been pivotal to h

is musical development.

As a highly respected educator, Stroppa founded the Workshop of Composition and Computer Music at the International Bartok Seminar in Szombathely, Hungary, where he taught for 13 years. In 1999, he was appointed full professor of composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Musikhochschule) in Stuttgart. He has also taught at the Paris and Lyon Conservatoires of Music (CNSMD).

Stroppa’s catalogue includes numerous works for orchestra, traditional instruments, electronic instruments, radio operas, theatrical music and context-dependent pieces, e.g., his score for the performance piece Race by Pascal Rambert, premiered at the October Festival in Normandy in 1997. Among his major works are: Traiettoria (1982-84) for piano and computer, Hiranyaloka (1993-94) and Ritratti senza volto (2007) for orchestra, Zwielicht (1998) for double bass, two percussion players, and electronics, Perché non riusciamo a vederla? (2008) for 24-part choir and alto, the trios Hommage à Gy.K. (2004) and Osja: Seven Strophes for a Literary Drone (2005), Come play with me (2018), a concerto for solo electronics and orchestra, and a series of concertos for instruments and spatialized orchestra or ensemble inspired by the poems of W.B. Yeats (Upon a Blade of Grass, From Needle’s Eye, Let Me Sing into Your Ear).

His first opera, Re Orso, based on a text by Arrigo Boito, premiered to great acclaim in May 2012 at the Opéra Comique in Paris.

His most recent major commissions include Lance dei crepuscoli (2022-2023) for electroacoustic totem and ambisonic system by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou and Come play with me (2016) for solo electronics and orchestra by SWR Symphonieorchester.