Mirco Ghirardini was awarded a first class degree in clarinet from the officially recognized Musical Institute A. Peri in Reggio Emilia, mentored by Gaspare Tirincanti. He has collaborated, and still does so, with the following orchestras: Accademia Strumentale Italiana, Archi italiani, Symphony Orchestra of the A. Toscanini Foundation, Virtuosi Italiani, Parma’s Royal Theater Orchestra, Rome’s Opera Theater Orchestra, Genoa’s Carlo Felice Theater Orchestra, Venice’s La Fenice Gran Theater Orchestra, Milan’s Teatro Alla Scala Orchestra (conducted, among others, by R. Muti, Y. Temirkanov, J. Conlon, S. Bitchkov, De Burgos, B. Campanella, R. Chailly, T. E. Gardiner, Harding, Chung, Maazel, Gatti), La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by I. Metzmacher, M. Frank, G. Pretre, V. Jurovsky, D. Gatti, L. Maazel, M.W. Chung, D. Harding, S. Bitchkov, D. Barenboim, P. Boulez.), A. Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra (now Symphony Orchestra Toscanini) conducted by L. Maazel, J. Tate, C. Dutoit, Y. Temirkanov , G. Prétre, M. Plasson, Z. Metha, touring to the USA, China, Israel, Germany, Spain, Greece, South America and Japan. Highly engaged in the contemporary music world, he is a founding member of Icarus Ensemble in Reggio Emilia (ensemble in residence at Reggio Emilia’s Teatro Municipale R. Valli). He has taken part with them in several festivals in Italy and abroad, performing a number of world premieres (S. Bussotti, G. Battistelli, R. Nova etc.), and has given concerts for Milan’s Nuove Sincronie, Milano Musica, Padua’s Interensemble, Bologna’s Octandre, Rome’s Musica Experimento, Turin’s Camerata Casella, Cagliari’s Spazio Musica, Cremona’s Musica Insieme, Teatro Alla Scala, Musica Presente, Rome’s Musica Verticale and Nuova Consonanza, Florence’s G.A.M.O., Turin’s Royal Theater, Reggio Emilia’s Di Nuovo Musica, Modena’s Town Theater, Trieste’s Museo Revoltella, Palermo’s Cantieri della Zisa, Siena’s Chigiana Academy, Montepulciano’s Contemporary Arts workshops, Mexico City’s Donatoni Festival, Guanajuato’s Cervantino Festival (1996, 2003), Munich’s Hochschule fur Musik / Gasteig, Amsterdam’s Gaudeamus Week, Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colon, Manchester’s Huddersfield Festival of Contemporany Music (1998, 2002), Cardiff’s 2000 Glamorgan Festival, Tokyo’s 1999 Festival of New Generation, Zagreb’s Composers Society and Contemporary Music Biennial (2001, 2003), Helsinki’s 2001 Sonora Festival Silelius Academy, New York’s 2001 Orensanz Foundation for the Art, Baku Azerbaijan 2003 Sonor Links Festival, Reggio Emilia’s Rec Fall Festival, Avellino Music in Irpinia, Parma’s Traiettorie Sonore, Festival RomaEuropa (France Academy, Villa Medici Rome), Nice’s Manca Festival, Venice’s Music Biennial 2007, Toulouse’s 2007 Festival Deodat, De Severac Rec REC 2008, Nice’s 2008 and 2009 Manca Festival. He is also a member of Milan’s ensemble Sentieri selvaggi; he has taken part with them in several music programs in Italy and abroad and has performed a number of world premieres (D. Lang, M. Nyman, G. Bryars, P. Castaldi, C. Boccadoro, F. del Corno etc.) at venues such as Milan’s Porta Romana Theater, Rome’s Roman Philarmonic Academy/Olimpic Theater, Turin’s September Music at the Royal Theater/Lingotto, Mantua’s Bibiena Theater, Milan’s Teatro Alla Scala, Venice’s Music Biennial, Saint Petersburg SKIF Festival LDM, Moscow’s Dom Cultural Centre, Degli Arciboldi Theater, Invito Alla Scala (2004), Cividale del Friuli’s Mittelfest, Portogruaro’s Music Summer, Mantua’s Literature Festival, Monfalcone, New York’s Bang on a Can Marathon. He has recorded for the following labels: Bottega Discantica, RivoAlto, Sensible Records, Ricordi, Cantaloupe Music (NY), Stadivarius, Rai Trade, MN Records London, TUTL srl, Velut Luna, Anemone Vernalis Edizioni, Einaudi Stile Libero/Suoni. He has recorded for radio programs broadcast by Rai Radio 3, NHK Japan, the BBC, Sky Classica and for radio stations in Argentina, Mexico, the Netherlands and Israel. In 1992 he successfully took the qualifying examination to teach the clarinet in Italian conservatories. In 2004 he was one of the founders of the wind concert L’Usignolo, a wind instruments septet aiming at reviving the dance music repertoire of the end of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century, and in particular the repertoire of the Barco’s wind concert.