Sandro Di Stefano

Italian composer, conductor, and professor. Recognized as one of the leading figures of the "New European School for Film Music," he has composed over 80 soundtracks for film, television, documentaries, and multimedia installations, both in Italy and internationally. He is an official member of the European Film Academy and the Polish Film Academy "Orly." His accolades include the 2016 Chioma DI Berenice Award and the 2017 Polish Film Festival Award, along with a nomination for the 2018 Polish Oscars ("Orly"). Over the course of his career, he has received more than 50 awards worldwide, included the Film Critics Prize by the Film Academy of Kazakstan. He has composed music for Asian Cinema, officially selected at international festivals such as the Berlinale, Warsaw, Tokyo, Tallinn and Asian Oscars. In 2018, he was invited as a guest composer at the Krakow Film Music Festival (FMF), where his works were performed by the Krakow Symphony Orchestra, alongside pieces by Oscar-winning composers Michael Nyman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jeff Beal, and Clint Mansell. His music is regularly broadcast on national and international radio and television and has topped the Apple Store sales charts. A reference composer for the Vatican, he composed the scores for the RAI/CTV-Vatican/La Repubblica series: Discovering the Vatican Museums (2016) and Divina Bellezza (2018), both presented by Alberto Angela and produced by RAI. His composition This Mercy, based on verses by Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio), was featured on RAI Uno for the closing of the Church's Jubilee. He was also among the select composers-including Luis Bacalov, Ennio Morricone, and Nicola Piovani-commissioned by Piero Angela and Paco Lanciano to create the music for Journey into the Forums, a permanent multimedia installation at the Forum of Augustus and Caesar in Rome. He collaborates with film industries in Poland, Germany, France, Asia, and the USA, working on productions distributed by Academy Award-winning companies such as Voltage Pictures and Lionsgate. His work is featured in university texts on the relationship between music and film, alongside composers such as Ennio Morricone and Nicola Piovani. His soundtracks are regularly produced and distributed by Grammy Award-winning labels such as Warner Music and Kemper Music. He has been invited to lecture and conduct masterclasses on the intersection of music and visual arts at prestigious institutions, including Berklee College of Music (Boston), the Milan Foundation, CESMA (Switzerland), and the Italian National Film School (Centro Sperimentale DI Cinematografia). His work has also been the subject of academic research, including the degree thesis Sandro Di Stefano: Music is an Invisible Actress, presented at the Conservatory of Music "N. Sala" in Benevento. Currently, he serves as Professor of Composition and Orchestration for Screen at the "Santa Cecilia" Conservatory of Music, Rome.

Biography from IMDb.