Livio Ventura (b. 1963) studied composition with Carl Van Wyk at the Witwatersrand School of Music in Johannesburg, South Africa and attended classes and master classes of local composers – Stefans Grové, Jeanne Zaidel-Rudolph, Mary Roerich, Henk Temmingh – and international composers and musicians such as Malcolm Forsyth, Violeta Dinescu, Bruce Cassidy, Boris Bloch and Mario Monreal.

Studied piano (1976-80) at the music conservatory in Madrid and was awarded the 1st piano prize for 3 consecutive years. In 1980 enrolled as a piano student at the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory in Rome. In 1983 enrols as a music composition student at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and completes his 4 years Bachelor of Music with Honours.

As the first student to complete a composition degree using electronic instruments – Synclavier II – initiates a collaboration with the Drama and Film department of the university that yielded a number of original compositions for theatre plays such as: As you like it by Shakespeare and Women of Troy by Euripides. As well as the soundtrack for “National Madness”, a film written and directed by the students of the drama school.

As a composer receives a commission from the South African Music Guild (SAMG) to compose Chiaroscuri (1987) – for violin and piano. In 1988 is awarded 1st prize at Total Music Collection Competition with “De Rerum Musicalis” composed for orchestra, reading voce, magnetic tape and audio effects. The composition style of De Rerum Musicalis was praised by Luciano Berio during a meeting that took place in Rome in November 1988. That same year De Rerum Musicalis and the recently completed Metricalia – concerto for 2 guitars and orchestra – are presented for the completion of a Masters in Composition at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Candlelight (1989) – composed for guitar and string orchestra - is recorded by the South African guitarist Tessa Ziegler in her CD “Another side of me”, distributed by EMI.
Mpumalanga (2007) – composed for pierrot lunaire ensemble – is a collection of musical impressions from a family trip to the South African region by the same name. The premiere of the composition took place in 2010 in Italy.
Livio conducted the premiere of Haiku for Orchestra (2012) at his final year recital for the Conservatory of Latina conducting course where he studied conducting with M° Benedetto Montebello.
Juxtapositions (2016) – a multi-media (audio-video-dance) composition – was premiered at the “Two lands, one voice” concert held in Rome in the auditorium of the “Santa Cecilia” Conservatory of Music in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine “Claire Trevor School of the Arts” Dance Ensemble “DTM2”, choreographed by Lisa Naugle.

Livio is currently completing his Film Music Specialization degree at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Music.