About
Michele Fondacci, is an Italian percussionist, composer, performer and sound artist.
His professional activities are divided between performing as a percussionist/drummer, with a focus on genres ranging from funk to world music, and composing music, with a specialisation in electronic music, electroacoustics and the visual arts more broadly. He creates music for a variety of art forms, including theatre, dance, cinema and sound art.
He started learning music when he was four, mainly drums, then piano and synthesiser, and went to the University of Music in Rome and Berklee College of Music Clinics.
Then he studied Percussion Instruments (M. Trippitelli), Composition (F. Cifariello Ciardi, F. De Rossi Re, Stefano Bracci) and Electronic Music (Angelo Benedetti, Simone Pappalardo, Stefano Alessandretti, etc.) at the Conservatorio 'F. Morlacchi' Conservatory in Perugia and attended numerous masterclasses in composition (Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Paolo Buonvino, Mauro Cardi, Carlo Crivelli, etc.) Electronic Music (Giorgio Nottoli, Brigitta Muntendorf, Marco Liuni, Eugenio Giordani, etc.) and Drums and Percussion (Terry Bozzio, Virgil Donati, Horacio Hernandez, Alfredo Golino, Lele Melotti, etc.).
His creative research involves the use of alternative timbres, incorporating both unconventional acoustic instruments and self-built instruments that can interact with the various processes of sound synthesis and their forms of expression. His works have been selected and performed at a number of international electronic music festivals, including Segnali Festival, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF), Seeyousound, Corti a Ponti, Torino Film Festival, Rimusicazioni, and more.
In 2016, he composed the original soundtrack for the silent film masterpiece The Man with a Movie Camera, directed by D. Vertov. The following year, he composed the soundtrack for the silent film Nosferatu the Vampire. In 2017, the artist released his inaugural solo work, entitled Road. This concept album of ambient electronic music was composed and recorded over the previous two years during seven different journeys in seven different places. Each track is dedicated to a day of the week, followed by Road 2.0, released in January 2020. In 2023, he composed the original soundtrack for 15 short films starring Betty Boop.
As a drummer and performer, he has played at the most important national and international festivals such as Umbria Jazz, Coppet Jazz and co (Switzerland), Moon in June, Umbria that rocks, Suoni Controvento, Chroma Fest, Cambio Festival, Premio Tenco, Segnali Festival, Locarno Folk, Blues l'éte (France), CONThiene Festival, Innoprom Festival (Russia), FolkFest, Firenze Rock, Ipercorpo Festival, Stagione Barattelli, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Euro Chocolate, 1° May in Piazza San Giovanni Roma, Women's Water Polo World League (Live on Rai Sat), Bluè Note Milano, Agorà dei Giovani Loreto 2007, Suoni della Terra, La settimana Mozartiana, Alba Jazz, Aosta Jazz, Spiagge Soul, Groove City, Casa del jazz Roma, Teatro Sistina Roma, Teano jazz, Jazz up, Foligno Young Jazz Festival, Barga Jazz (Lucca), Tuscia Jazz (Viterbo), Jazz Village (Pesaro), Val-badia Jazz, Trasimeno Blues, Attigliano Jazz, Atina Jazz, Correnti Jazz, etc.
He has collaborated with artists such as Shel Shapiro, Stefano Di Battista, Max Gazzè, Ennio Morricone, Fabrizio Bosso, Enzo Granagniello, Dario Fo', Afro sound Percussion, Massimo Morriconi, Pippo Matino, Adriano Martino, Badarà Sek, Cecilia Chally, Sasa Mendoza, Ciccio Merolla, Nando Citarella, Cosimo Cinieri, Solis String Quartet, Orchestra della Rai, Orchestra del Cinema di Roma, Afrosound Percussion, Enzo de Caro, Lee n', Loretta Grace, P-Funking Band, Maurizio Trippitelli percussion ensemble, Rio Sacro, Linda Valori, etc.