Born in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil, 1982), Luciano Leite Barbosa is a composer interested in computer-assisted composition, microtonal harmony and sound synthesis. He began his studies in acoustic and electroacoustic composition at UNIRIO, with Marcos Lucas and Vania Dantas Leite. In 2010, he moved to the US to complete a Doctoral degree in Composition at Boston University, where he studied with Joshua Fineberg. At the school, he had also the opportunity to have lessons with visiting composers Salvatore Sciarrino, Olga Neuwirth, Beat Furrer, Philippe Leroux, and Pierluigi Billone.

 

Described as “starkly beautiful” by the Boston Globe, his music has been featured in concerts and festivals such as IRCAM’s ManiFeste (France), Gaudeamus Muziek Week (The Netherlands), Domaine Forget (Canada), Unehörte Musik Berlin (Germany), June in Buffalo (USA), performed by ensembles such as the Nieuw Ensemble, Les Cris de Paris, Meitar Ensemble, the JACK Quartet, and Ensemble Dal Niente.

 

In recent years, his compositions were awarded prizes at the Domaine Forget/ Rencontres de Musique Nouvelle 2013, the Ossia New Music Competition 2015, and the Nieuw Ensemble 2nd Brazilian Composers Competition 2011. He was also a recipient of the Prêmio Funarte de Composição Clássica 2016 and 2019, from the Brazilian national arts foundation (Funarte).

 

In 2017/ 2018, Luciano attended the Cursus program at IRCAM, and collaborated with performer Jean-Etienne Sotty and researcher Benjamin Matuszewski (IRCAM's ISMM team) in the composition of Color Fields, for XAMP microtonal accordion, smartphones and electronics. He was awarded in the CAPSULE program at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2021. He currently teaches at the Conservatory Jean Wiéner in Bobigny and his scores are published by Babel Scores.