(b. 3 March 1967, L'Aquila).
Italian composer of mostly stage, chamber, piano, and electroacoustic works that have been performed throughout Europe and elsewhere.
Ms. Vacca studied with Mauro Cardi and Matteo D'Amico at the Conservatorio Alfredo Casella in L'Aquila, where she earned diplomas in band instrumentation, choral direction and composition. She studied composition with Azio Corghi and Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she received a superior degree.
Among her honours are Secondo Premio in the competition Domenico Guaccero in Bari (1998), the Premio CEMAT (1999), Terzo Premio in the competition Gesualdo da Venosa (2000), Primo Premio in the competition of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (2001), Second Prize in the FIDAPA (2001), the Premio Gaspare Spontini (2001), Primo Premio in the competition Curci (2002), Primo Premio in the competition Egidio Carella (2002), Deuxième Prix in the competition for sacred music in Fribourg (2002), and Primero Premio in the competition Alberto Ginastera (2002). She also served a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Her music has been performed in Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Ukraine and the USA.
She is also active in other positions. As a pianist, she has played mostly contemporary music, co-founded with Laura Miconi the Duo Pianistico Astarte in 1991 and has collaborated with the Coro Polifonico CIMA. She co-founded with Paola Campanini the troupe of musicians and puppeteers Gruppo Teatrale Burattinmusica in 1995.
She has taught music theory, musical perception and rhythm at the Conservatorio Alfredo Casella since 2002 and taught at the Istituto Musicale Gaspare Spontini in Ascoli Piceno in 2019–20.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Relazioni (text by Sister Maria Crocifissa de Tomasi), 2 female actors, piano, 1999
C'era una volta la Principessa Dispettosa (text by Nicoletta Costa), speaker, fixed media, live electronics, 2000 (collaboration with Mauro Cardi, Maria Cristina De Amicis, Michelangelo Lupone, Alessandro Sbordoni)
Lunedì dell'angelo (text by St. Angela of Foligno), voice, female actor, fixed media, 2000
Intimorosamente (text by Nell Kimball), female actor–speaker, alto saxophone, violin, cello, percussion, 2001
Gattomachia (opera in 1 act for children, libretto by the composer, after Lope de Vega), 2 female actors–voices, flute, percussion, fixed media, live electronics, 2002
Baby Blues (incidental music), soprano saxophone, piano, percussion, 2002 (may be performed as a concert work)
Il colore dei suoni (incidental music), flute, 2002
Il quaderno di musica di Maddalena (opera in 1 act), 2003
TRASH (musicalopera in 1 act for people on the street and children inclined to recycling), 2004 (collaboration with Mauro Cardi)
Contratto Perfetto (theatrical work, atto unico in tre giornate, text by Luca Capannolo), soprano, bass, female actor, Electronic Wind Instrument, alto saxophone, electric guitar, MIDI-keyboard, bayan, percussion, drum kit, 2017
ORCHESTRAL:
Lay replay, string orchestra, 2001
Le stanze della luna (racconto per orchestra in sei frammenti), 2002
Trave Barocca, string orchestra, 2003
Il canto muto, 2004
Fandango, small orchestra, 2005
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Micra, piccolo (+ flute, alto flute), E-flat clarinet (+ clarinet, bass clarinet), percussion, 1995
Frammenti, flute, clarinet, French horn, harp, violin, viola, cello, percussion, 1996
Amaca, violin, 1996
Bassorilievo, flute, clarinet, French horn, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, piano, percussion, 1997
Rituale, violin, viola, cello, 1998
Ritorni, string quartet, 1998
Rito, violin, viola, cello, live electronics, 1998
L'anello fra le dita (text by Ovid), speaker, flute, clarinet, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello, 1999 (also version for flute, clarinet, 2 violins, viola, cello, vibraphone, 2000)
Another flashing chance, amplified bass flute, electric guitar, 2000
Immobile, transverse flute, fixed media, 2001
L'ami, flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, 2001
Ridonda (text by Gabriele D'Annunzio), speaker, ensemble, 2001
Baby Blues, soprano saxophone, piano, percussion, 2002 (incidental music; may be performed as a concert work)
Inonda, piccolo (+ alto flute, percussion), 2002
Risonanze, viola, piano, 2003
Far away, trombone, 2003
L'ombra che il suono perpetua, ensemble, 2004
Earthen Heart, bass flute, harpsichord, violin, viola, cello, 2004
WAM!, 2 players, 2005
..d'un mite saettando.., violin, cello, piano, 2005
Mon-Tat, piccolo, piano, marimba, 2006
...insistevi leggera..., ensemble, 2006
Fili, clarinet, alto saxophone, bayan, 2020
caosconverso, string quartet, 2020
CHORAL:
Contramor (texts by C. Bertola, Torquato Tasso), soprano, bass, mixed chorus, large orchestra, 1998
Eya (text from an anonymous source, from Cæcilia, virgo et martyr, H 413 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier), mixed chorus, large orchestra, 2000
VOCAL:
Grido concentrico (text by Anna Maria Giancarli), mezzo-soprano, female speaker, piccolo (+ flute, alto flute), 1997
Gattomachia (text by Lope de Vega), soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, 1999
Coplas de gatos (text by Lope de Vega), soprano, piano, 1999
Days of light (text by Lewis Carroll), soprano, violin, viola, cello, piano, 2000
UNO (text by the composer), soprano, string orchestra, 2001
Versi di Gatti, female voice, piano, 2003
PIANO:
De-sequentia, 1999
Ninna-nanna-nonna, 2000
Nomen, 2003
La corda barocca, 2004
Im Legendenton (fantasia), 2 pianos, 2005
La vela ammainata, piano 4 hands, 2008
Oral, 2017
Dark Sun (omaggio a Beethoven), 2019
Seven, 2020
Domani è un altro giorno (after Max Steiner), 2020
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Il monte analogo, fixed media, 1999
Pas de deux, fixed media, 1999 (collaboration with Maria Cristina De Amicis)
Effimera ombra, fixed media, 2001
Il gioco del doppio, fixed media, 2001
Luna in Cancro, fixed media, 2001
Grigio perla, fixed media, 2001
La porta di cristallo, fixed media, 2001
Il filo di Arianna, fixed media, 2001