Ada Gentile was born in Avezzano and attended the Conservatorio di St. Cecilia in Rome, graduating in piano and composition. She then completed a graduate degree at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia with Goffredo Petrassi. She has lectured at Northwestern University, Juilliard School, Wayne State University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago and the University of California, Berkeley in the United States and also widely in Europe and Asia. She was Deputy Director of St. Cecilia Conservatory from 1999 to 2005, and has been instrumental in organizing a number of music festivals. Her works have been performed internationally.
Honors and awards
Gaudeamus prize 1982
ISCM Budapest prize 1986
ISCM Essen prize 1995
Works
Selected works include:
Adagios for string orchestra (1993–94)
Adagio for a Summer for flute and strings (1998)
Concertante for flute, guitar and orchestra (1989)
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (1995)
Concert ("Veni Lumen Cordis") for female voice (or B♭ clarinet) and orchestra (1993)
Criptografia (Cryptography) for viola and chamber orchestra (1985)
Two Episodes for organ, orchestra and voice in echo (1988)
Flighty for orchestra (1982)
Around for flute, clarinet and viola (1984)
Insight for 2 violins and viola (1984)
Perviolasola for viola solo (1987)
Music Scene (1996)
Piccolo concerto for chamber orchestra (1995)
Shading for guitar and chamber orchestra (1988)
Veränderungen for symphony orchestra (1976)
Why Not? for orchestra (1985)
She Begged My Mother for orchestra and narrator (2000)
Discography
Gentile maintains an extended discography. Selected recording include:
La voce contemporanea in Italia, Vol. 2 - Audio CD (Nov. 14, 2006) by Ennio Morricone, Bruno Maderna, Ada Gentile, Carlo Mosso, et al.
Vittorio Fellegara: Requiem di Madrid, Die Irae, Notturno Ada Gentile: Criptografia, Shading - Audio CD by Ada Gentile, Vittorio Fellegara, Giulio Bertola, Lev Martkitz, et al.
Paesaggi Della Mente - Audio CD by Ada Gentile and Manuel Zurria - flute
Plot in Fiction - Audio CD (Aug. 27, 2002) by Enrico Correggia, Luca Francesconi, Giacinto Scelsi, Ada Gentile, et al.
