20th-century Italian composers

Michele Esposito (29 September 1855 – 19 November 1929) was an Italian composer, conductor and pianist who spent most of his professional life in Dublin, Ireland.

Desy Lumini, best known as Daisy Lumini (18 August 1936 - 18 August 1993), was an Italian composer, singer and stage actress.
Born in Florence, at young age Lumini graduated in piano and composition, and began her career as a composer of soundtracks and songs; she later came to fame by participating in numerous Italian television shows.Lumini, who spoke five languages fluently, during her career also toured in the United States (where she participated at The Perry Como Show and sang at Carnegie Hall), France and Germany. In the sixties, after a brief period in the cabaret, she devoted herself to the research and the diffusion of Tuscan folk music, recording many albums with the popular repertoire and put it on shows with the stage company of Beppe Chierici. After working in contemporary musical theater, in the eighties Lumini started a successful collaboration with Salvatore Sciarrino, winning the Prix Italia Award in 1985. In 1993, the day of her birthday, she committed suicide along with her husband Tino Schirinzi, struck by an incurable disease, by jumping from the viaduct under construction on the Bilancino dam near Barberino di Mugello.

Corrado Lojacono (22 January 1924 – 23 October 2012) was an Italian singer, actor, record producer and songwriter.

Gianluca Grignani (born 7 April 1972) is an Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Fabio Concato (born Fabio Piccaluga, 31 May 1953 in Milan) is an Italian singer-songwriter.

Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti KCVO (9 April 1846, Ortona, Abruzzo – 2 December 1916, Rome) was an Italian composer and music teacher.

Pietro Grossi (15 April 1917, in Venice – 21 February 2002, in Florence) was an Italian composer pioneer of computer music, visual artist and hacker ahead of his time. He began experimenting with electronic techniques in Italy in the early sixties.

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he immigrated to the United States and became a film composer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next fifteen years. He also wrote concertos for Jascha Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky.

Marcello Abbado (7 October 1926 – 4 June 2020) was an Italian pianist, composer, conductor and academic teacher. His compositions include several orchestral works, two ballets, numerous pieces for solo piano, and chamber music. As a pianist, he played in major concert halls of the world. He taught composition at several conservatories, ultimately at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. In 1989 he was awarded the gold medal for Meritorious Culture and Art (Medaglia d'oro ai benemeriti della cultura e dell'arte) by the Government of Italy.

Giuseppe "Pippo" Barzizza (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈpippo barˈdziddza]; 15 May 1902 – 4 April 1994) was an Italian composer, arranger, conductor and music director.
Giuseppe Barzizza, called Pippo, was born in Genova on 15 May 1902, and died in Sanremo on 4 April 1994. He became famous in the 1930s and 1940s, at the beginning with Blue Star Orchestra and then with Orchestra Cetra. He composed songs and film soundtracks. His treatise, "Barzizza's method" was printed in 1952. His basics and exercises "are so clear that's it's enough to read this little book to overcome any doubts or hesitation!” Franco Franchi said, "Barzizza was among the first to be interested in jazz music and swing and he became for many years, together with his friend and rival Cinico Angelini, a great example for his fellows, both for his extraordinary compositions and his skills to find out new talents and songs, and for his attempt to give a modern mark to Italian music".