Gian Paolo Chiti, born in Rome, studied piano, violin and composition from the age of four years. He made his debut aschild protégé performing his own compositions. When ten years old he entered the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory in Rome where he studied piano and composition, graduating at the age of eighteen.  He followed master classes in pianoforte with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and successively gained his advanced performance diploma in pianoforte with Carlo Zecchi and for chamber music with Arturo Bonucci at the Academy of Santa Cecilia.  He was prizewinner in the Treviso and Busoni competitions. 

His career began as composer and pianist for chamber music, also accompanying singers and instrumentalists.  He taught composition in Italian conservatories and was Head of the Composition Department at Santa Cecilia in Roma from 1984; he was deputy Director of the Conservatory for ten years from 1989.  Many talented young composers, winners of international competitions, have been his students.

He gives Master Classes in composition, history of contemporary composition related to ancient music, from Gregorian plain chant to polyphony, analysis for composers and musicologists in Europe, Asia and the U.S.A: Villa Reale, Lisbon Conservatory, Portugal; National Conservatory of Beijing, China; Havana Conservatory, Cuba; Cultural Centre in Manila, Philippines; University of Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A.

Gian Paolo Chiti has achieved international recognition for his music in major international festivals: Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence, Biennale of Venice, Edinburgh Festival, Lutoslawski Festival, Cantiere Internazionale of Montepulciano, Nuova Consonanza, Incontri Musicali Romani, Chopin Festival in Poland, Sacred Music Festival in Chartres, France, Teatro Nacional di Caracas in Venezuela, the Public Season at the Moscow Conservatory.

Among his best known works: “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra”, recorded by the RAI Symphonic Orchestra in Turin;“Konzertstűck” for orchestra, commissioned by the Abruzzese Regional Symphonic Orchestra; “A Dylan Thomas”, a ballet for Teatro la Fenice in Venice; “Trivium” for voice and orchestra, commissioned by Scottish Chamber Orchestra;“Nachtmusic”, for Royal Festival Hall in London; “Pilatus e Maria”, Oratorio for Vatican Radio; choral works for many Italian cathedrals and “Artists’ Mass”.  He has written for chamber groups: “Rencontres”, for I Solisti Veneti; “Breakers”, and solo works for almost every musical instrument.  “Laudation Processional Hymn, in Honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (chorus, wind and percussion) was commissioned for “Maria Mater Mundi”, Vatican Paolo VI Auditorium, and Grand Jubilee, 2000. 

In February 2005 the University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA, honoured him with a monographic concert of chamber works and in May 2005, his ballet, The Seven Ages of Man was programmed by the National Italian Dance Academy.   This work has already been presented at the Fenice Theatre, in Venice and for the Incontri Musicali Romani Festival in Rome. In 2005 he prepared piano transcriptions of lieder by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms.  
  In preparation is a Piano Concerto for the Lazio Symphony Orchestra for 2006. 

He works for television, cinema and for cinema as well as for the theatre composing soundtracks, commentaries and publicity jingles.

He completed the revision of an opera by seventeenth century composer Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini, “Ulisse in Campania” for the Mozart Celebrations in Vienna. The performances took place in the Schönbrunn Theatre in September 2006.

His music is published and/or recorded by BMG Ricordi – Casa Musicale Sonzogno – Bérbèn – Reimers AB (Svezia) – Lyra Music (USA) – Musik Fabrik (France)

Jury member for international competitions and consultant for festivals, exhibitions, and master courses, his writings are published internationally, including by American Liszt Society.  He lectured  for Radio Nacional in Spain, Radio France and the BBC and participates in programmes for RAI, Italian national TV.   

Gian Paolo Chiti has been a Member of the Italian National Dance Commission for the  Ministry of Culture and Heritage and is a Director on the Board of the Fondazione Adkins Chiti: Donne in Musica, member of International Music Council of UNESCO, and of the European Music Council. 

M° Gian Paolo Chiti