Italian composer Francesco Mariano is a seasoned musician who graduated from the Conservatory in Double Bass and Electronic Music. A double bassist, he’s played in classical music orchestras such as Orchestra Toscanini and Orchestra Sinfonica Italiana alongside the likes of Pavarotti (Pavarotti and Friends in the 2001 and 2003 editions), Bono Vox, Eric Clapton, Berry White and Deep purple. A lover of early music, he plays recorders in small ensembles.
The musician moved to Prague in 2008 where he started to familiarize himself with club-based electronic music. He brought the that experience back to Italy at the Rimini and expanded it with a master degree at the University of Rome. In particular, the reading of the book by Umberto Eco, Opera Aperta, opens the way to new compositional forms, combining Computer Assisted Composition, real musical instruments (double bass, recorders, guitars, piano) and concrete sound. Francesco Mariano also approaches the soundscape composition by taking field recordings around Italy and Europe.
Alongside his many interests are visual art and in the interaction between audio and video. The musician is a Sound Designer, a Music Producer, a teacher of Music Technology at “Liceo Musicale Felice Palma” and also programmes softwares for sound synthesis. He’s embraced a wide variety of roles in different music projects, from Sound recordist to composer, from live musician to sound designer. The music spanned from classical to jazz and from electronic music to experimental. His tracks include genres such as soundscape, electroacoustic music, dance and commercial; mixing concrete sounds to electronic sounds. He uses many applications: Protools, Max Msp, Logic pro x, Ableton Live, Audiosculpt, Adobe Audition…
As a musician I can play the double bass, the recorder, the synths and the guitar. 1InMusic met with the impressive multi-talented, multi-instrumentalist and ecclectic music composer.
1inmusic: Hey Francesco, wow! Your passion for music is impressive. What makes your music so unique?
Francesco Mariano [FM]: Unique is the creative process in which you immerse yourself, as well as in the listening process when you manage to enter into a deep listening with a work. I believe they are forms of meditation.
1 In Music: What/who shaped your music and who supports you?
FM: My music comes from all my experiences, first with classical music, with the double bass, then with jazz to combine everything with electronics.
1 In Music: When did you realise you were going to make music professionally?
FM: When I enrolled for the first time in the conservatory, I had to face difficult choices several times
1 In Music: What type of music do you listen to?
FM: I listen to music of different genres, from different eras and places. I listen to music almost all day and every day, always new music. inexhaustible source are the Podcasts, by the way I created a Podcast on how to create a Podcast … In particular, I like ancient, medieval, classical, jazz, Bossa Nova, experimental electronics, Soundscape music
1 In Music: Who, to you, is the most undervalued music artist?
FM: I don’t believe in evaluations so much, they leave the time we see, they weigh on characteristics that no longer have a price with pure music, listened for what it transmits. I have no heroes and I have no fans
1 In Music: How do you prepare for your performances?
FM: Every time in a different way
1 In Music: What do you do when you don’t do music (creative or otherwise) and that you are passionate about?
FM: Long walks on the sea especially in winter, I take care of the garden and try to grow vegetables to eat
1 In Music: Success to you is…?
FM: Succeed in what I am doing and always promise new goals
1 In Music: What do you wish you were told when you started out and that you think would help anyone who starts out?
FM: Nowhere, everywhere
1 In Music: Any upcoming projects?
FM: Interaction between music and video. I am studying programming languages in multimedia environments for audio visual interaction
1 In Music: Thanks Francesco for this interview. Where do we find you music / music project?
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fm73
BandCamp: https://francescomariano.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/francesco.mariano.79
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fm73music/ https://music.apple.com/us/artist/francesco-mariano/1479891903