Antonio Gaggiano
Percussion
Antonio Gaggiano (born 1999) is an Italian percussionist specialising in contemporary music performance.
Throughout his career he has collaborated with numerous orchestras, including the Orchestra Sinfonica della Magna Grecia, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Neues Orchester Basel, the Basel Collegium Musicum, the Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, the Orchestra della Toscana (ORT), Ensemble Recherche, and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, among many others.
He received an Erasmus scholarship that allowed him to attend two academic years at the KASK Conservatory in Ghent. He also attended advanced summer courses at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena under the guidance of Maestro Antonio Caggiano between 2021 and 2024. He graduated with honours in both the first- and second-cycle academic diplomas in percussion at the Conservatorio “Umberto Giordano” in Foggia, and completed a Master’s degree in Music Performance in 2024 at the Hochschule für Musik Basel under Prof. Christian Dierstein. He is currently enrolled in the Master in Music Pedagogy at the same institution.
Antonio has performed at major national and international festivals, including the ChigianaFestival 2021, Siluna Fest, Rodi Summer Festival, Festival Voci per Vico, Musikfestival Bern, Mixtur Festival in Barcelona, Impuls Graz, Lucerne Festival, and Basel Mizmorim, among others. In these contexts, he has collaborated with internationally renowned composers, soloists, and conductors such as Salvatore Sciarrino, Marco Momi, Helmut Lachenmann, Lorenzo Pagliei, Ilya Gringolts, Martha Argerich, Dan Ettinger, and Peter Rundel.
As a composer, he has received several awards: third prize at the International Composition Competition “Città di Albenga” with the piano work Discontinuum (dedicated to György Ligeti), and second prize at the WPM Snare Drum and Percussion Competition. He has also been repeatedly awarded by the Adams Percussion Factory and, in March 2025, received the prestigious Fritz Gerber Award from the Lucerne Festival, which will allow him to perform as a soloist and in various ensembles in the upcoming edition of the festival.
