Born in Genoa in 1958, Marco Vincenzi graduated with distinction at the conservatory there, before continuing his studies under Maria Tipo at the Geneva Conservatoire Supérieur. In 1986 he won the Prix de Virtuosité and in 1986 graduated in composition at Genoa Conservatory and took his MA at Genoa University. He received an award in musicology at the Dinu Lipatti Foundation in Bucharest, and took first prizes for piano at the Stresa International Competition (Italy 1977) and the Sommerakademie of the Salzburg Mozarteum (Austria 1978). He has appeared as a recitalist and soloist throughout Europe and in the United States. His recordings include releases of works by Lipatti, Wolf-Ferrari, Busoni, Pizzetti, Vieuxtemps, Rota, Respighi, and Mozart-Busoni for Dynamic. He is piano professor at Genoa Conservatory, director of the Centro Studi Musicali Ferruccio Busoni in Empoli, and artistic director of  the A. Speranza European Piano Competition in Taranto.

Among the most respected Italian composers of his generation, Pizzetti has in recent years suffered some neglect, due, in part, to his natural conservatism in an age of experiment. He was, however, versatile and prolific; ambitious in opera, he also contributed interesting additions to choral and vocal repertoire, as well as chamber music.

Operas

Pizzetti wrote over 20 operas, collaborating in earlier years with D’Annunzio, with whom he wrote the opera Fedra (‘Phaedra’). His Assassinio nella cattedrale (‘Murder in the Cathedral’) treats a translation of T.S. Eliot’s play, while his last opera, Clitennestra (‘Clytemnestra’), with a libretto by the composer, was staged at La Scala, Milan, in 1965. His Sinfonia del fuoco (‘Symphony of Fire’) was written for the silent film Cabiria to a scenario by D’Annunzio.

Choral and Vocal Music

Pizzetti’s choral music, much of which again draws its literary source from ancient Greece and Rome, includes a Requiem and the cantata Vanitas vanitatum (‘Vanity of Vanities’), with a text from Ecclesiastes.

Chamber Music

In addition to various works for piano, Pizzetti left two string quartets as well as interesting duo sonatas for violin and piano, and cello and piano.