Fernando Mencherini (1949-1997)
Born in Fermignano, he studied at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, focusing on electronic music (under the guidance of Walter Branchi).
He has received commissions from such well-known musicians as Stefano Scodanibbio, Ciro Scarponi and Yvar Mikhashoff, as well as groups ('Ensemble E. Varèse') and festivals (' Nuova Musica Italiana'. His honours include the Premio Bucchi in 1981 (for Quartetto d'archi No. 1) and an award of the International Competition for Composers in Cologne in 1989 (for I segreti del tempio). In the last years of his life he wrote musicals for the stage and for dance theatre.
He also worked with the vocal ensemble 'Laboratorio Ottantasette', conducted by Paola Urbinati. His works have been performed at iscm World Music Days and such prestigious new music events in Italy as 'Rassegna di Nuova Musica' in Macerata and 'Progetto Musica' in Rome.
His works have been broadcast by several European radio stations and recorded on EdiPan, bmg Ariola and Contempo Records labels. He died in 1997 in Cagli.

Selected works: Notturno for double-bass (1979, String Quartet No. 1 (1980), Sei danze for violin (1983), Das Zweiter Zimmer, tango for piano (1983), Crazy Jay Blue for clarinet (1985), Per Limina for piano (1986), Open End, radio broadcast for Radio 3 (for the programme Un certo discorso, edited by Pasquale Santoli), I segreti del tempio (1989), Vortex for flute, violin, 11 strings and vibraphone (1993) How was it there? for brass, strings and percussion (1993), Tutti i cappotti for orchestra (1993), Sexy Sadie, opera (1995), Ah, il mio sonno for six voices to texts by Eduardo Sanguinetti from Labortinus (196), Ritorna mia luna for three male voices to texts by Eduardo Sanguinetti from Labortinus; ballets: Operait (1993), Le zattere (1994), Per la finestra nuova (1994), Il meridiano (1994), Un giardino a mente vuota for harp and tape (1995), Ghirigori, Io non guardo mai il cielo (1996).

Un giardino a mente vuota. The title of the piece is from John Cage (from Silence). In the beginning, it wasn't so much that I was thinking about the garden; I saw lots of kettles on the fire, all coming quickly to the boil. The harp part has an effervescence similar to that of boiling water: the sonic material lives constantly at the limit of an 'uncertain tepidness' (in which it is very difficult to find well-defined unity and proportion, the essential qualities for a garden).
Un giardino a mente vuota was composed for harpist Lucia Bova, who has recorded it for edi-Pan (Rome).