Biography

Irma Ravinale was born in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. She studied composition at the Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 Conservatory of Santa Cecilia with Goffredo Petrassi

Goffredo Petrassi

Goffredo Petrassi was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.-Life:...

, and continued her studies with Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...

 in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, also studying piano, conducting and choral music. After completing her education, she took a position in 1966 teaching composition at the Conservatory Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Ravinale became director of San Pietro a Maijella Conservatory in Naples where she served until 1989 and then Director of the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia where she served until 1999. She is member of the International Honour Committee of the Fondazione Donne in Musica.

Honors and awards

• Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Rome, 2 June 1992
• Silver medal for meritorious school of art and culture, Rome, 2 June 1994
• Gold Medal for Culture and the Arts

Works

Ravinale composes works for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles and musical theatre. Selected works include:

• 1965 Scorpion, for chorus a cappella, from Trilussa
• 1966 Death meditated, cantata for baritone and string quartet
• 1967 Concerto for oboe, horn, timpani and strings
• 1967 Ballad of love and war, for soprano, violin, cello and piano
• 1968 Concerto for Strings
• 1970 Night Trio for violin, viola d'amore and cello
• 1970 The Picture of Dorian Gray
  Dorian Gray
  Dorian Gray is the main character of Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.It may also refer to:* Dorian Gray , an Italian film starring Helmut Berger...
  
  , play by Oscar Wilde
  Oscar Wilde
  Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
  
  
• 1971 Invention concerted, for 13 wind instruments
• 1972 Sinfonia Concertante for guitar and orchestra
• 1974 Serenade for guitar, flute and viola
• 1976 Sequentia, for guitar and string quartet
• 1976 Spleen, for baritone and orchestra (Won an award at the International Competition of Trieste)
• 1977 Dialogues, for viola, guitar and orchestra
• 1978 Changeling, for harpsichord and small orchestra
• 1979 Improvisation for guitar alone
• 1980 Jontly for two guitars
• 1980 Recherche, for violin only
• 1981 But ... what comes after love, for oboe and horn
• 1981 Improvisation II, for harpsichord
• 1982 Sombras, for guitar alone
• 1983 Les Adieux, for violin and orchestra
• 1984 Per una mano sola, for piano
• 1984 To Ada, for clarinet
• 1985 Ode to a star, for organ and concertante string orchestra
• 1987 Duo for violin and guitar
• 1987 Untitled, for clarinet and bass clarinet in E flat
• 1988 Elegy of silence, for chamber orchestra
• 1989 The Ballad of the vassal, for female voice
• 1989 Jeux, for guitar
• 1990 Two arias for baritone voice
• 1990 Poem for Oscar Romero, for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra
• 1991 Quintet for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano
• 1992 Nuit, for cello only
• 1995 Prologue, for narrator and five instruments, from Pier Paolo Pasolini
• 1996 Sextet for Strings
• 1997 Pour une etoile, for body only
• 1999 The Remains of the day, for orchestra
• 2004 In memory of those we love, for mezzo-soprano, piccolo and orchestra
• 2004 Ode to friendship, for violin and cello
• 2005 Second Quintet for two trumpets, trombone, tubacorno and tuba
• 2005 Puer natus est, for nine male voices
• 2006 Cadenza for solo violin