Francesco De Masi
Francesco De Masi ( born January 11, 1930 in Rome, † November 6, 2005 ) was an Italian composer and conductor. He is known especially for his many film scores.
Life and work
Francesco De Masi studied with Achille Longo at the Neapolitan Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella composition. He then studied with Paul Van Kempen and Franco Ferrara in Siena orchestral conducting. He received his doctorate in horn which he studied with Domenico Ceccarossi. He then worked at the A. Scarlatti in Naples and at Rome Symphonic Orchestra of the RAI. In 1968, he won a Young Artist's Prize alb best conductor. Since 1974 he was the orchestra leader at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in Naples, since 1983, he also taught conducting. Since 1989 he has taught at the renowned Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
Since 1955, De Masi worked as a composer of film scores. He composed the soundtracks for more than 200 movies and hundreds more tunes for television movies, series and TV documentaries. He often played this music also with his orchestras under its own management. Most music he wrote for historical films, sandals movies, costume dramas and westerns. From him used pseudonyms are Frank De Masi, Francis D. Masion and Frank Mason.