Manuel Farolfi

I am a musicologist and sound engineer. I completed my doctoral study at the University of Leeds in 2022 with a thesis on the American composer John Cage and currently hold a postdoctoral fellowship at Leeds Arts & Humanities Research Institute.

My research interests centre on experimental music and music technology. I have presented my work at several international conferences, including the International Musicological Society Quinquennial Congress, the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie Annual Conference, and the Society for Music Analysis Conference.

My works have been published in edited collections and scholarly journals, including those issued by Peter Lang, Olms, and Brepols. I worked as a sound engineer in recording studios for over a decade and am credited, among others, on albums by Mariah Carey, Robert Palmer, The Orb, Akhenaton and Veronique Sanson.

Publications

Farolfi M, ‘Notational and Editorial Practice in John Cage’s Aria’, in Mitteilungen der Paul Sacher Stiftung, 35 (2023) [Forthcoming]

Farolfi M, ‘Der Modernismus in den Schriften Pierre Boulez‘, 1948-1952’, in Marcus Aydintan et al. (eds.), GMTH Kongressbericht 2015, (Hildesheim: Olms, 2020), 305–318

Farolfi M, ‘Musica ed esperienza di consumo: gli effetti della sonorizzazione musicale negli spazi commerciali’, Musica/Realtà, 15/121 (2020), 35–50

Farolfi M, ‘Modernism at Work in Pierre Boulez’s Writings, 1948-1952’, in Gregor Pompe et al. (eds.), From Modernism to Postmodernism. Between Universal and Local (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2016), 107–125

Farolfi M, ‘Pierre Boulez incontra Paul Klee: Structure Ia un’opera d’arte “al limite del paese fertile”’, in Roberto Illiano (ed.), Music and Figurative Arts in the Twentieth Century (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016), 35–60

Farolfi M, ‘Chance and Indeterminacy in Music: A New Analytical Tool to Classify Aleatoric Music Forms’, in Pieter Bergé et al. (eds.), EuroMAC2014 Abstracts, (Leuven: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2014), 106

Farolfi M, ‘Caso e indeterminazione nell'opera musicale: uno strumento didattico per l'analisi della musica aleatoria’, Rivista di Analisi e Teoria Musicale, 19/2 (2013), 123–131

Farolfi M, ‘Ludwig Van Beethoven: Quintetto in Mi bemolle maggiore Op. 16 per pianoforte e fiati’, in Orchestra Mozart (Bologna: Auditorium Manzoni, 2013), 6–9

Farolfi M, ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Quintetto in Mi bemolle maggiore K. 452 per pianoforte e fiati’, in Orchestra Mozart (Bologna: Auditorium Manzoni, 2013), 12–15

Conference presentations

Farolfi M, ‘Alleati in Concerto: Cage, Berio, Metzger, e lo United States Information Service’, XXIX Convegno Annuale della Società Italiana di Musicologia (SIdM), University of Pavia, 2022

Farolfi M, ‘Pierre Boulez meets Paul Klee: Structure Ia a work of art “at the limit of the fertile land”’, PGR Symposium, School of Music, University of Leeds, 2019

Farolfi M, ‘Indeterminacy and chance in aleatory music: an analytical approach’, PGR Symposium, School of Music, University of Leeds, 2018

Farolfi M, ‘The impact of Eastern philosophy on John Cage’s writings 1948-52: modernism turns postmodernism?’, 20th Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society (IMS), Tokyo University of the Arts, 2017

Farolfi M, ‘Boulez incontra Klee: ‘Structure Ia un’opera d’arte “al limite del paese fertile”’, XX Colloquio di Musicologia del Saggiatore Musicale, University of Bologna, 2016

Farolfi M, ‘Musica ed esperienza di consumo: gli effetti della sonorizzazione musicale negli spazi commerciali’, XIII Convegno Internazionale di Analisi e Teoria Musicale (GATM), 2016

Farolfi M, ‘»Consciousness of Time«, »Corresponding Past«, »New Beginning«: Canons of Modernism at Work in Pierre Boulez's Writings 1948-1952’, 15. Jahreskongress Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH), Universität der Künste Berlin, 2015

Farolfi M, ‘Per un’attività d’impresa ‘musicalmente ecologica’: gli effetti della sonorizzazione musicale negli spazi commerciali’, XIX Colloquio di Musicologia del Saggiatore Musicale, University of Bologna, 2015

Farolfi M, ‘Indeterminacy in serial music: Pierre Boulez's Structure Ia and “the phenomenon of the automatism of chance”’, KeeleMAC 2015, Keele University, 2015

Farolfi M, ‘Caso e indeterminazione: uno strumento didattico per l'analisi della musica aleatoria’, XVIII Colloquio di Musicologia del Saggiatore Musicale, University of Bologna, 2014

Farolfi M, ‘Il giovane Pierre Boulez fra serialità e caso: Structure Ia e il fenomeno “de l'automatisme du hasard”’, XXI Convegno annuale della Società Italiana di Musicologia (SidM), 2014

Farolfi M, ‘Chance and Indeterminacy in Music: A New Analytical Tool to Classify Aleatoric Music Forms’, EuroMAC2014, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2014

Farolfi M, ‘Caso e indeterminazione nell'opera musicale: proposta di un modello tassonomico per la classificazione della musica aleatoria’, Convegno Internazionale di Analisi