Composer and Harp Column Music artist Daniele Garella passed away on Nov. 12, 2024. Born in Florence, Garella graduated in composition and choral conducting and in counterpoint harmony and fugue from the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. In addition to composing many works for harp, Garella was the editorial manager of the publishing house Stella Mattutina Edizioni and artistic director of its Arpeggiando series. His friends and colleagues at Stella Mattutina Edizioni, Francesco Mossolin and Carlo Belli, posted on social media, “Our spiritual brother, great artist, composer, poet and writer, but also a sweet and caring friend, Daniele Garella, left us on Sunday afternoon… He fell asleep and then his heart stopped. It was in a state of peace and serenity. We will continue to spread his heavenly music, because through his notes he will continue to live with us and within us.”
The Italian Harp Association posted on social media, “We are shocked and deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our dear friend Daniele Garella. He was a generous collaborator of our Association, with whom he fully shared the mission of supporting the young generations of musicians, as well as promoting research and recovery projects of harp repertoire. Daniele has generously hosted many young performers during the many concert seasons he organized at Villa Vico in Tuscany, and awarded prizes to many others [while he served on the jury of] the ‘Suoni d’Arpa’ competition. He leaves us with his beautiful production of compositions that echo in harp school halls as well as in concert halls.”
Garella’s compositions for harp are published by Stella Mattutina Edizioni, with 37 of his works available at Harp Column Music. Since 2014, his compositions have been part of the required repertoire at the International Harp Contest in Italy “Suoni d’Arpa,” organized by the Italian Harp Association; Garella was a member of the jury of that competition from 2014 to 2017. Record companies such as Universal Records and Sony BMG International have released his compositions. In 2015 and 2016, Garella collaborated with performers to release two albums entirely dedicated to his works for harp: Le Jardin Féerique and Heliopolis, both with the record label La Tosca. He was also a novelist and an art consultant with numerous Italian publishing houses, receiving mentions in various literary awards.
