PROGRAMME
Matteo Fargion, born in Milan in 1961, is a London-based composer and performer whose work spans contemporary music, dance, and theatre. His artistic journey began in South Africa, where, as a teenager, he composed progressive rock concept albums and played bass guitar in experimental bands and later, at university, studied composition with Kevin Volans. In 1985, he moves to London where he briefly worked with Howard Skempton and wrote for ensembles such as the Balanescu Quartet, Robyn Schulkowsky, and London New Music. In 1989, he won the Sonorities Composition Prize in Belfast.
Matteo's engagement with dance was sparked in the late 1980s after seeing Merce Cunningham’s company perform at Sadler’s Wells. This pivotal experience led him to the Gulbenkian International Course for Choreographers and Composers, where he first explored writing music for dance. It was there that he met choreographer Jonathan Burrows, initiating a long-standing and deeply collaborative partnership. Initially composing for Burrows’ dance works – including Dull Morning Cloudy Mild (1989) and The Stop Quartet (1996, in collaboration with Kevin Volans) – their creative dynamic shifted in 2002 with Both Sitting Duet, which brought Matteo onto the stage as a performer. Since then, they have created a series of 10 duets, jointly conceived, choreographed, composed, and performed, with Both Sitting Duet winning a New York Dance and Performance Bessie Award in 2004. Their work has toured extensively, with over 600 performances in 35 countries.
Beyond his collaborations with Jonathan, Matteo has worked with a diverse range of artists across multiple disciplines. His theatrical compositions include music for director Elmar Goerden’s productions in Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna, and Bochum, as well as Thomas Ostermeier’s The Girl on the Sofa at the Edinburgh Festival (2002). In dance, he has composed for Siobhan Davies (The Art of Touch, 1995) and Karl Jay Lewin (Extremely Bad Dancing to Extremely French Music, 2013). His collaborations with Andrea Spreafico have led to innovative music theatre works, including Bad Dante Bad English Bad Opera (2022) and Durante and the Bad Loves (2023), with the third instalment planned for Borealis Festival in 2026.
As an educator, Matteo has been a visiting lecturer at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels since 2002, developing a distinctive approach to teaching composition to choreographers. He regularly leads workshops and has created works for students, including at SEAD in Salzburg.
Matteo continues to explore new artistic territories, blending music, performance, and choreography in unexpected ways. His recent projects include Institute of Rest(s), supported by La Manufacture in Lausanne and several leading European institutions, and Music for Lectures, an ongoing series integrating spoken word with live rock music.
2025
