Luca Francesconi (born 1956) studied piano at the Milan Conservatory and composition with Azio Corghi and Karlheinz Stockhausen (in Rome) and with Luciano Berio (at Tanglewood). For a year, he also studied jazz at Berklee College of Music. In 1990, he founded the Agon Acustica Informatica Musica, a research centre for music technology, in Milan. Francesconi composes in almost all genres and often uses electronics. He has written five radio operas for RAI and several operas for the theatre. He has received composition commissions from the Nieuw Ensemble, STEIM Amsterdam, IRCAM, Asko|Schönberg and het Nederlands Blazers Ensemble. His major orchestral works include Wanderer for the Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Riccardo Muti and Cobalt, Scarlet for the Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester conducted by Mariss Jansons. His work has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Götenborg Symphoniker.

He has written two string quartets for the Arditti Quartet and two violin concertos for Irvine Arditti. Francesconi's choral music has been performed by the Vokalensemble Stuttgart conducted by Peter Eötvös, the Swedish Radio Choir and the New London Chamber Choir. His work has won awards including the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis (1990), the Förderpreis der Ernst-von-Siemens-Musikstiftung (1994) and the Prix Italia (1994). Apart from being a composer, Francesconi is also active as a conductor. He taught at several Italian conservatories and gives master classes all over the world. He has also been a guest teacher in Rotterdam and is head of the composition department at the Malmö conservatory. Since 2008 he has been artistic director of the Venice Biennale, and since 2012 he has directed the Ultima Festival in Oslo. In 2013, he has been composer in residence at the Casa de Música in Porto.