Giancarlo Scalia is a Canadian pianist and composer. He was born in Montreal, Quebec. He began studying the piano and theory at the relatively late age of 10 with Paolo Vani at the McGill Conservatory of Music. After graduating at 16 with Honors, he continued with Angela Chan, before entering l'Ecole de Musique Vincent d'Indy and then l'Université de Montréal.
He works as both pianist and composer and, despite his successes to date in both fields, is still an artist in development.
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Scalia's compositions number in the 40s and are composed for a variety of instruments, including works for solo instruments, chamber groups and orchestra, as well as for electronic instruments and combinations of electronic and acoustic instruments. His compositional style is a "unique blend of romantic and contemporary melodies and harmonies" and the majority of his compositions may be classified as tonal, even if contemporary elements are present. Chopin and Ennio Morricone, as well as many other composers, represent the influences in Giancarlo Scalia's music.[1]
In November 2004, he was commissioned to compose a short piece for students of Dr. Chan. His Rondo Facile for 1 piano, 8 hands op. 29 was premiered the 18th of December 2004 at the Maison Trestler in Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec. The performers were Sihan Guo, Emily and Jacqueline To and Kathleen Wong.
Scalia began working in the film music field when he was commissioned in 2006 by the Laurier Macdonald Media Foundation to compose the music for the documentary Ripples in Time. The hour-long documentary received an AMTEC award and Scalia has since worked on film projects that have been presented in Canada as well as in Europe. His 2008 collaboration with the Spanish director Raimundo Morte was premiered at the Foire International Libero 2008 festival in Barcelona, Spain.
Giancarlo Scalia's first album was entitled Sogno d'Amore (Liebestraum). The CD was released in 2005 under the independent label Davisca Productions.
The CD features 14 of Giancarlo Scalia's compositions for solo piano, which were composed between the years 2002 and 2005. Although the compositions from this disc are not as complex or mature as some of Scalia's more recent work, they still give us an insight into his creative world.
According to his website, Giancarlo Scalia is presently dividing his time between performing, studying and composing. He is also an active accompanist.
His compositions Duet for piano and tape, his Rhapsody for piano and wind orchestra and his Fantaras and Lament From Another Continent for solo piano were premiered in concerts in 2009.