Giorgio Battistelli is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music. A native of Albano Laziale, he studied at the conservatory in L'Aquila and is a former student of Stockhausen and Kagel, Battistelli has written nearly 20 operas on subjects ranging from Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopaedia to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. His latest project, based on Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, is due to open at La Scala in 2015. In 1994 he founded with some friends the improvisation group entitled Edgard Var�se and an instrumental ensemble named Beat '72. From 1985 to 1986 he was host of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in Berlin. In 1990 he won the SIAE for an opera and in 1993 the Cervo Prize for contemporary music. He was also artistic director of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana. He is currently director of the music section of the Venice Biennale. He is the current leader of the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme hosted by Aldeburgh Music. His music is published by Ricordi. 

April 25th, 1953 in Albano Laziale (Age 71)