Domenico Mannelli
Composer, Performer, Projects creator
I am an Italian composer and performer based in Aarhus, Denmark, with a rich background in interdisciplinary theater and music. My work blends composition, performative art, poetry, and anthropology, focusing on themes of geographical dislocation and Deep Ecology. With a Master’s in Philosophy and advanced musical training, I craft immersive experiences utilizing diverse soundscapes, including quadraphonic setups. I composed music for children’s video content, documentary, and commercial spots. I produced EPs and have written extensively for both acoustic and electronic music. I am a co-founder of Ensemble Advena, which creates impactful projects that bridge cultural narratives and innovative musical expression.
Below are some of my works divided into categories.
Theater Works
Ghost Voices
2024
- Role: Concept, Composing, Performing
- Production: Ensemble Advena
- Presented at TURKIS, Aarhus
- Supported by Dansk Komponistforening
A performance exploring themes of memory and loss. A ritual with a lone performer in dialogue with the invisible. My role encompassed music, dramaturgy, and performance, creating and inhabiting a soundscape of voices and chants that evoke echoes of the past, from fishermen’s cries to wartime bombs and women’s laments played in a quadrophonic setting.
Betroelser Om Sollys
2024
- Role: Concept, Composing, Performing
- Production: Ensemble Advena
- Presented at TURKIS, Aarhus
- Supported by KodaDramatik and Dansk Komponistforening
An immersive, multi-sensory listening experience exploring the human connection to sunlight through interviews. My composition blends wordless music with spoken voices, guiding blindfolded audiences through an intimate journey. Utilizing quadraphonic sound, I create an enveloping and dynamic soundscape.
Terminus
2022
- Role: Composing, Sound designing
- Production: HumanLab
- Presented in Denmark, Germany, Taiwan
A physical performance with masks for children and families about train stations and the preciousness of our waiting time. The music blends sounds and instruments, enhancing the suspended atmosphere of the play.
Circle of Silence
2021
- Role: Concept, Composing, Performing
- Production: Ensemble Advena
- Presented at Moschiano (Italy) during the Parthemium Calling Festival, Kammersal-Musikhuset Aarhus during the “Curiosity Festival”
An immersive performance that integrates music, poetry, and physical expression. Inspired by pre-Christian myths of the Earth Goddess, this piece fuses Northern and Southern European traditions, creating a poetic dialogue. My role as composer, musician, and performer involved crafting a soundscape made with live music and recorded and manipulated sounds.
Playroom
2018
- Role: Composing, Performing
- Production: Altamira Studio Teater and Nordisk TeaterLaboratorium
- Presented at LimfjordsTeatret, Teatret OM, Odin Teatret, Det Hem’ lige Teater, Aarhus University, and AprilFestival 2019 in Hjørring
A physical and wordless performance for children and families. A poetic work about human relationships and overcoming fear to enter into the world. The music I composed blends original and folk music arranged for piano, bass, and violin.
Video Works
Bulbo – Axolight
2023
- Role: Composing
- Production: Collettivo LAN-DE-SI
- Animations: Marta Lonardi
A series of three stop-motion animations commissioned by Axolight, a leading Italian lighting company specializing in the design and production of ‘Made in Italy’ lamps. The goal was to tell the story of their iconic Bulbo lamp.
E se diventi Farfalla
2022
- Role: Composing
- Production: Collettivo LAN-DE-SI
- Animations: Marta Lonardi
A series of videos created in collaboration with the children of Pacchioni Kindergarten in Mantua, as part of the “E se diventi farfalla” (And what if you become a butterfly) project.
In Altre Parole
2022
- Role: Composing
- Production: “La Sapienza” University of Rome
- Direction: Matteo Quarta
This video was promoted by the ‘Commission for initiatives in favor of students with disabilities and learning disorders’ and developed by Sapienza University’s Audiovisual for Performance Laboratory (Labs). It aims to foster a culture of inclusion. The screenplay was inspired by interviews with the video’s protagonists, students with disabilities and learning disorders.
Aarhus Exile
2021
- Role: Concept, Images, Composing
- Animations: Marta Lonardi
- Voice Over: Johannes Zois
- Poems: Peter Laugesen
A “Video Poem” dedicated to Aarhus, an experiment that combines filmed images of the city, animations, and original music. This work explores the relationship between music, architecture, and poetry, using them as compositional tools. The goal is to poetically recode the urban spaces of Aarhus, while also offering the perspective of a foreigner observing the city.
Installations
Lyden Af Ruinerne
2024
- Role: Concept, Composing
- Production: Ensemble Advena, HumanLab
- Video: Matteo Quarta
- Poems: Mads Mygind
- Space designing: Elsa Mencagli Andersen
- Presented at Det Danske Institut i Rom
- Supported by Europæisk KulturRegion and Dansk Komponistforening
It is a multimedia installation and performance that re-interprets historical remnants through original music and soundscapes, spoken poetry, and dynamic video projections. The work explores ruins as potent fragments of memory and meaning, poetically recoding these spaces to invite audiences to consider their relationship with the past.
Geo-Musical Re-location
2024
- Role: Concept, Composing
- Production: Ensemble Advena
- Presented at Det Danske Institut i Rom, KulturKappelet (Aarhus)
- Supported by Dansk Komponistforening, Det Danske Institut i Rom, Aarhus Kommune
It is an immersive listening experience. This work delves into the concept of geographical displacement and cultural identity by electronically manipulating Danish and Italian vocal folk music alongside new compositions for piano and electronics. Through a quadraphonic sound setup, the project aims to create a “linguistic/musical confusion” that challenges perspectives on origin and explores the dichotomy between ‘identity’ and ‘otherness’.
Tabte og Genfundne Stemmer
2025
- Role: Sound designing
- Concept: Elsa Mencagli Andersen
- Presented at Hanstholm LightHouse
An audio installation exploring the complex experience of aphasia through an intimate dialogue between mother and daughter. The project explores the search for a common language beyond verbal barriers, inviting the audience to linger in a space suspended between the semantic and pre-semantic realms, where comprehension and poetry intersect.
Le streghe del Mincio
2022
- Role: Composing, Sound designing
- Produced by Collettivo LAN-DE-Sì
- Concept and Direction: Irene Gandolfi and Sara Moscardini
- Voice Over: Tomàs Acosta
- Images: Marta Lonardi
It is an installation that, through evocative narration, images, and original music, brings to light the stories of women accused of witchcraft along the Mincio River. Based on extensive archival research, the installation is a collage of historical facts and imagined words, giving voice to figures like Bellezza Orsini and countless other women “who no longer have a voice.” Original Music: Domenico Mannelli
Music-Releases
The Norns Project
2021
- Role: Concept, Composing
- Production: Ensemble Advena
- Presented at Musikhuset, Aarhus
It is an opera in concert form crafted for three female voices, piano, violin, and percussion. Inspired by the trans-European myth of the three goddesses who spin the thread of human destiny, this work brings an ancient narrative into a contemporary musical setting.
Blind Emotion
2021
- Role: Composing
- Played by Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and AbeKejser
- Presented at Musikhuset, Aarhus
A 10-minute piece for big band commissioned by the Danish band AbeKejser.
Birds on the Snow
2018
- Role: Composing, Producing
- Label: La bel NetLabel
This is my second EP, released in December 2018, is a deeply atmospheric and melancholic journey, painting vivid sonic landscapes of winter’s embrace. Through its rarefied melodies, subtle electronic textures, “Birds on the Snow” explores themes of solitude, resilience, and the quiet beauty found amidst cold and sorrow. The work subtly weaves together elements of ambient and experimental electronic music, creating an introspective space where faint sunlight, distant bells, and the persistent fall of snow converge with hidden life and enduring innocence.
Medicine Sound
2012
- Role: Composing, Producing
- Label: La bel NetLabel
My first release. An EP blending electro-pop textures, acoustic ballads, and touches of symphonic depth. A journey of rediscovery, seeking the fundamental truths and unspoken sentiments often lost in a world of noise.
