Ivo Antognini

Ivo Antognini graduated in piano in 1985 in Lucerne, after studying first with Roberto Braccini and later with Nora Doallo at the school that would later become the Conservatoriodella Svizzera Italiana. A self-taught composer, he has enjoyed composing and improvising on the piano since childhood. From 1990 to 1991 he studied at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, an experience that led him to publish three CDs as composer and performer. From 1990 to 2004, he collaborated with various Swiss film makers for whom he composed several soundtracks.

In 2006, he began a collaboration with the Calicantus Choir in Locarno and its master and founder Mario Fontana; this adventure led Antognini to devote himself almost exclusively to composing choral music. In a short time, his pieces spread internationally and were published by numerous publishers including Alliance Music Pub., Walton Music, Hal Leonard, G. Schirmer, Peters, Boosey & Hawkes and many others. Ivo Antognini is regularly invited as a juror to national and international choral and composition competitions and has presented his music in Switzerland, Italy, France, Hungary, Ireland, Slovenia, Greece, the USA and Japan. Antognini's pieces have been performed in at least 56 countries by the most renowned choirs

In March 2016, a concert entirely dedicated to his a cappella works entitled 'Vocal Colors' took place at New York's Lincoln Center. Three months later, again in New York but on this occasion at Carnegie Hall, his oratorio 'A Prayer for Mother Earth' sees its world premiere with Andrew Crane conducting. In April 2023, a monographic CD with the Trinity College Choir of Cambridge conducted by Stephen Layton is released on the Hyperion Records label. In 2020 he received the prestigious Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission Award from the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and in 2024 he was awarded the Swiss Music Prize.