Born 18 June 1956 in Macerata, died 8 January 2012 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. In the 1980s and 1990s his name has been prominently linked to the renaissance of the double bass, playing dozens of works written especially for him by composers such as  Bussotti, Donatoni, Estrada, Ferneyhough, Frith, Globokar, Sciarrino, and Xenakis at major international festivals. He has created  new techniques extending the colours and range of the double  bass heretofore thought impossible on this instrument. In 1987  in Rome, he performed a four-hour non-stop marathon playing  28 pieces by 25 composers.

He worked closely with the musician Terry Riley, as well as with  choreographers and dancers Virgilio Sieni, Patricia Kuypers,  Hervé Diasnas, poets Edoardo Sanguineti and Gian Ruggero Manzoni, philosopher Giorgio Agamben, the Gianni Dessì, and  director and playwright Rodrigo García. He played regularly with  Rohan de Saram and Markus Stockhausen.

From the 1990s he taught masterclasses and seminars at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, University of California  Berkeley, Stanford University, Oberlin Conservatory, High School  of Music in Stuttgart, Conservatoire de Paris, Milan Conservatoire, and many others. In 1996 he taught double bass at the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt.

Selected works: Oriente-Occidente for double bass (1979), e/statico for double bass (1980), Strumentale for double bass (1980),  Techne for two guitars (1980–81), Verano de suerte for guitar  (1981–82), Sei Studi for double bass (1981–83), Due pezzi brillanti for double bass (1985), Joke 85for cello (1985), Delle più alte  torri for cello (1984–86), Alisei for double bass (1986), Visas for  string quartet (1985–87), Quando le montagne si colorano di rosa  for two guitars (1984–88), My new address for violin (1986–88),  Tre Impromptu for viola (1986–89), Doppelselbstbildnis for double  bass and seven instruments (1989–90), Jardins d’Hamilcar for violin and double bass (1990), Escondido for violin and cello (1991),  Quodlibet for viola and cello (1991), Composte terre for violin and  viola (1992), Dos abismos for guitar (1992), Western Lands for  cello and double bass (1992), Visas per Vittorio Reta, radio play  (1993), H for tape (1993), Humboldt for viola and double bass  (1994), Geografia amorosafor double bass / with live electronics (1994), Mar dell’oblio for violin, cello and double bass (1995),  Postkarten for reciter and double bass (1997), Ecco – 21 cartoline per Edoardo Sanguineti for double bass (1997), Voyage That  Never Ends for double bass (1979–97), One Says Mexico, radio  play (1998), La fine del pensiero, ballet for double bass and tape  (1998), Lugares que pasan for string quartet (1999), Altri Visas for string quartet (2000), Plaza for four trumpets (2001), Alfabeto  apocalittico for reciter and double bass (2001), Only Connect for  piano (2001), Ritorno a Cartagena for flute (2001), Oltracuidansa  for double bass and tape (1997–2002), Wie der Wind es trägt for  violin, viola and cello (2002), Da una certa nebbia for two double  basses (2002), Terre lontane for tape, piano, double bass, live electronics and video projections (2003), Mas lugares (on Monteverdi’s  Madrigali) for string quartet (2003), Lucida sidera for saxophone  quartet (2004), Je m’en allais – Scene I from Il cielo sulla terra,  for violin, viola, two cellos, two double basses and tape (2004),  Amores – Scene IV from Il cielo sulla terra, for electric guitar, violin, viola, two cellos and two double basses (2005), Itinerario y  comentarios (Voyage Started – version for six voices and double  bass) (2005), Voyage Resumed for alto flute and tape (2005), Il cielo  sulla terra, music theatre for two dancers, 15 children, ten players, electronics and video (2004–6), Sì come nave pinta da buon  vento – Cantata del vento buono for three sopranos, two pianos,  percussion and reciter (2006–7), Avvicinamenti, materiali per improvvisare for variable ensemble (2007), & Roll for double bass  (2007), Vanishing Places for 12 strings (2007), Interrogazioni for  double bass (2008–9), Concertale for double bass, string orchestra  and percussion (1993–2010), Lawless Roadsfor piano (2006–10),  In nomine for flute, clarinet, oboe, piano, violin, viola and cello  (2005–10), Ottetto for eight double basses (2010–11).