My Biography
Luigi Noah De Angelis was born in Brussels in 1974. His mother was Belgian and his father Italian. He grew up in Ravenna, Italy, where he graduated from the Dante Alighieri Classical High School.
At 14, he participated in a workshop led by actress, writer, and director Ermanna Montanari (of Teatro delle Albe), organized at the Classical High School of Ravenna by actor Marco Cavalcoli. This encounter was pivotal in setting him on the path to theater.
He studied classical guitar and piano, graduating from the Frescobaldi Conservatory in Ferrara, Italy, with qualifications in solfeggio and singing. He also studied Gregorian chant with organist, singer, and conductor Elena Sartori, with whom he performed in concerts and liturgical masses.
At 16, he independently managed a theater workshop at his high school, handling the adaptation, dramaturgy, lighting, and direction of Euripides’ The Trojan Women. He also performed in the production, embedding “The Man Who Dreams”. The show was staged twice at the Rasi Theater in Ravenna.
During the production of The Trojan Women, he met Chiara Lagani, a student from the Classical High School who came to watch the rehearsals. Chiara showed him a text written for the theater, which they decided to stage together, Hevel, morte – transizione, when he was 17. This marked the beginning of a creative partnership that led them to found the Fanny & Alexander company, based in Ravenna and still active today on the Italian and international scene after over thirty years of activity.
In those same years, he acted in the play Waiting for Godot with Compagnia del Druido, directed by Eugenio Sideri, playing the roles of Lucky and The Slave.
With Chiara Lagani, he invented the Corridor Theater, a series of situational performances presented spontaneously in various corners of the school corridors during breaks.
From 1990 to 1992, he wrote as a theater reporter for La Voce di Romagna, a weekly publication in Ravenna, writing around fifty articles and reviews of theatrical and opera performances. This experience allowed him to visit many theaters and festivals nearby, including the Santarcangelo Festival (in Rimini) during Antonio Attisani’s artistic direction (1991), where he was able to see all the festival’s performances. This opportunity introduced him to European theater and contemporary forms of theater.
He studied Classical Literature at the University of Bologna, learning Ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and Ancient Iranian. His encounter with Franco Farinelli, a geography professor, marked an important stage in his intellectual development.
Since his earliest, entirely self-produced shows, he had to invent and learn various trades, including sound technician, electrician, and stagehand, as he could not afford external technicians. His directing and creative approach always stems from an interplay between music, sound space, and stage space, drawing inspiration from architecture, the visual arts, and the contemporary music repertoire. He has always considered his shows as total works of art, the creation of a world for the audience to immerse in, where no hierarchy exists among the various elements, all of which hold equal importance. For this reason, he does not separate his role as director from that of set designer and light designer, and often also from that of sound designer.
Since 1995, he has been a performer with the nightclub theater company Teddy Bear Company, founded by Gerardo Lamattina. Among various performances he conceived and enacted—often hosted at the iconic Cocoricò nightclub in Riccione, Italy—two stand out: Ba’al Zebùb, where he remained in his underwear inside a glass case with 10,000 flies for several hours, and Peep Show, a voyeuristic re-enactment of a Francis Bacon painting (Innocent X) for a single spectator.
In 1996, alongside Chiara Lagani, he constructed an anatomical theater (which he designed) out of wood and sheet metal for the show Ponti In Core, which they both performed in. This marked the start of Fanny & Alexander’s Italian and international tours (including Monaco, Berlin, Zagreb, and Beirut) and was the company’s first recognition from the national Italian critics.
The shows he has directed have been presented in Italy and abroad at international festivals and events, including Festival d’Automne (Paris), Biennale Teatro di Venezia, Santarcangelo dei Teatri, Volterra Teatro, Drodesera, Napoli Teatro Festival, Ravenna Festival, Festival delle Colline Torinesi, KunstenFestivaldesArts (Brussels, Belgium), Bitef (Belgrade, Serbia), Eurokaz and Music Zagreb Biennal (Zagreb, Croatia), Mess Festival (Sarajevo, Bosnia), Mostra Sesc Des Artes (São Paulo, Brazil), Norderzone (Groningen, Netherlands), Kampnagel (Hamburg, Germany), Sophiensaele (Berlin, Germany), Flying Circus Project (Singapore), Aylul Festival (Beirut, Lebanon), Tampere Festival (Finland), Moscow (Theatre Hermitage), Perfect Performance (Stockholm, Sweden), FIBA (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Welcome to the Village (Leeuwarden, Netherlands), Operadagen (Rotterdam), Ljubljana (Slovenia), and Budapest (Hungary).
In 1999, Luigi met photographer Enrico Fedrigoli, with whom he collaborated on numerous projects, including the publication of Ravenna Viso-in-aria (Longo Editore, 2003), an book of photographs dedicated to the industrial landscapes and monumental architecture of Ravenna. For years, De Angelis worked alongside Fedrigoli as an assistant, gaining expertise in framing techniques (Fedrigoli works with a view camera) and mastering both natural and artificial lighting.
In 2001, he directed and designed the set and lighting for Requiem, with dramaturgy by Chiara Lagani and sound design and music by Luigi Ceccarelli. Meeting Ceccarelli was pivotal in his acquisition of professional techniques in sound design and electroacoustic composition.
In 2002, he directed the short film R for Redrum, in which he played himself. The film won the Production Award at the Riccione TTV Festival.
The film Rebus per Ada (based on the play Ardis II), which he co-directed with Zapruderfilmmakersgroup, was released as a DVD by Luca Sossella publisher in 2005.
Since 2007, he has been based once again in Brussels, Belgium.
Between 2011 and 2013, he collaborated with the Italo-Argentine artist Sergio Policicchio to compose a soundscape symphony on the city of Ravenna, Buco Bianco, published as part of the CD collection by the Tempo Reale Foundation in Florence.
Since 2015, he has been a resident artist with Muziektheater Transparant in Antwerp, Belgium.
In October 2015, he created a concert/performance on composer Giacinto Scelsi, titled In Nomine Lucis, in collaboration with the Spectra Ensemble at DeSingel (Antwerp, Belgium), handling the lighting project and electronic compositions. In Nomine Lucis was reprised in October 2017 at the FIBA (Buenos Aires International Festival) at Teatro Colón. An Italian version of the project, performed with the Contemporartensemble under the direction of Mauro Ceccanti, premiered at Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena in July 2016 as part of the Accademia Chigiana Summer Festival.
In May 2015, he directed The Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Italy, also designing the set and lighting, with the musical direction by Michele Mariotti.
In July 2016, along with musician Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio, he presented Lumen at the Santarcangelo Festival, a four-hour concert-happening focused on the demon of dance—an electronic journey through shamanic music from various cultures. A one-and-a-half-hour version was broadcast twice on Italian national radio, Rai Radio3, as part of the Battiti program.
In March 2017, he conceived, directed, and designed the lighting for the production Zmeya, inspired by the life of Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, performed with the Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop from Berlin. This production was commissioned by Klarafestival and co-produced with the Concertgebouw in Bruges and deSingel in Antwerp, Belgium. The show was later restaged in Berlin in November 2018 at Radialsystem and made its Italian debut at the Romaeuropa Festival.
In 2017, he designed the lighting for the Second Symphony for Soprano, Lights, and Large Orchestra by Belgian composer Wim Henderickx, commissioned by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra for Antwerp’s new Elizabeth Hall. This occasion marked his first collaboration with soprano Claron McFadden, initiating an important artistic partnership.
In August 2017, he directed and designed the set and lighting for a unique version of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, titled Orfeo Viajero, performed in Antwerp at deSingel with young soloists and musicians from the MuziekTheater Transparant Summer School, conducted by Argentine director Hernan Schvartzman.
For Fanny & Alexander, he directed, designed the sound project, sets, and lighting for Story of a Friendship, a three-act play inspired by Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, which premiered in June 2018 at the Napoli Teatro Festival and Ravenna Festival.
In the summer of 2018, he directed and designed the set and lighting for Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes at deSingel in Antwerp, Belgium, with young soloists and musicians from the MuziekTheater Transparant Summer School, conducted by director and harpsichordist Korneel Bernolet.
In 2019, he directed, designed the set, video, and lighting for Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, with musical direction by Hernan Schvartzman.
In December 2019, his project Se Questo è Levi won the 2019 Ubu Special Prize (the Ubu Prize is considered the “Oscar” of Italian theater), and Andrea Argentieri, the lead actor, won the 2019 Ubu Award for Best Actor Under 35. This play has been performed in numerous town councils and non-theatrical spaces across Italy (including council chambers in Milan, Ravenna, Bologna, Mantua, among others), and it was also staged at the Belgian Federal Senate for the KunstenFestivaldesArts in Brussels in 2022. The production has been presented internationally in cities such as London, Shanghai, Bucharest, Cluj Napoca, and Tirana.
From 2020 to 2022, he taught electroacoustic music composition at the Conservatorio Martini in Bologna for the Sound Design and Electronic Music program.
In June 2021, he conceived, directed, and designed the set and lighting for Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll, translated by Chiara Lagani for Einaudi and presented at the Ravenna Festival as a Fanny & Alexander production.
For the 2021 Santarcangelo Festival, he collaborated with Giorgina Pi and Cristiano De Fabritiis of the Bluemotion company to conceive, direct, and design the sound for Grand Bois. This concert-happening for 17 percussionists and a singer, with sound design by Damiano Meacci (Tempo Reale), was also presented at the Welcome to the Village festival in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) as part of the De Bosk mobile forest project, at the Oerol Festival on Terschelling Island (Netherlands), and as part of Bologna’s summer festival, Estate Bolognese.
In July 2021, he directed and designed the set and lighting for Corcovado, co-created with coreographer Michele Di Stefano and featuring Lorenzo Glejieses as the lead performer.
In August 2021, at deSingel in Antwerp, Belgium, he conceived, directed, and designed the set and lighting for A.L.I.C.E., a music-theater project with Muziektheater Transparant, with musical coordination by Anne Pierlé.
In October 2021, he premiered The Garden, a video-concert polyptych, at RomaEuropa Festival with singer Claron McFadden and musician Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio, with sound design by Damiano Meacci (Tempo Reale).
That same month, he directed and designed L’Isola Disabitata Teatro Alighieri in Ravenna, with musical direction by Nicola Valentini. This production was revived with a new cast and musical direction by Leonardo Garcia Alarcon at the Opéra de Dijon, in collaboration with the Académie de l’Opéra National de Paris, in November 2021.
In December 2021, he created the lighting design and scenic space for Metastasis, a concert-installation by Gabriele Marangoni, with sound design by Damiano Meacci (Tempo Reale), presented at LAC Lugano.
In March 2022, he directed, produced video, and designed lighting for Passio (St. John Passion) by Alessandro Scarlatti, which premiered at Bozar in Brussels for Klarafestival.
In June 2022, he directed, designed the set, lighting, and video for the opera Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria by Claudio Monteverdi, a new production by Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, with musical direction by Ottavio Dantone and the Accademia Bizantina orchestra.
In July 2022, he directed and designed Addio Fantasmi, a Fanny & Alexander adaptation of Nadia Terranova’s novel, with dramaturgy by Chiara Lagani.
He directed, composed the soundtrack, and designed the video based on the illustrations by Mara Cerri for L’amica geniale a fumetti, a Fanny & Alexander recital based on the graphic novel adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend by Chiara Lagani, illustrated by Mara Cerri. Premiering in October 2022, this production has been presented at numerous theaters and festivals in Italy and abroad, including Hong Kong, Munich, Stuttgart, and Hamburg.
In October 2022, his installation Seven Tears, featuring his direction and video design, premiered at the FTMA Festival in Paris with music by Emanuele Wiltsch Barberio and vocals by Claron McFadden.
In December 2022, he directed, designed the set, lighting, and video for Lohengrin by Richard Wagner at Teatro Comunale di Bologna, conducted by Asher Fisch.
In 2023, he directed and designed the set and lighting for Il Barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini, premiering in Rovigo and subsequently presented in Ravenna under the musical direction of Giulio Cilona. This production was revived with a new cast at Teatro Comunale di Pisa, Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, and Teatro Comunale di Jesi, conducted by Francesco Pasqualetti.
In 2023, he conceived, directed, and designed the lighting for Nina, a mimetic portrait, a concert-performance homage to Nina Simone, starring soprano Claron McFadden with electroacoustic music and sound design by Damiano Meacci (Tempo Reale). Produced by Fanny & Alexander, this show debuted at the 2023 Romaeuropa Festival and then began an international tour, including deSingel (Antwerp), Festival d’Automne (Paris), Rotterdam (O Festival), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Ravenna Festival, Teatro Piccolo di Milano (Festival Presente Indicativo), and Fabbrica Europa (Florence). The production returns to the Festival d’Automne in December 2024 for two weeks in the repertoire section, with additional dates scheduled across Europe in 2025, including at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Boulez Saal in Berlin.
For Fanny & Alexander, De Angelis designed two editorial projects with Ubulibri, Ada, cronaca familiare and OZ, published in the “I libri quadrati” series, inspired by two long-term theatrical projects.
He has led numerous masterclasses and workshops focused on his directorial, compositional, and creative methods. Alongside Fanny & Alexander, he conducted a 90-hour course on directing techniques and the “remote acting” method, which he has employed for over a decade in his productions, at the Iolanda Gazzero Theater School at Emilia Romagna Teatro.
In 2024, Luigi De Angelis officially adopted his mother’s surname, Noah, as a tribute to the artistic and cultural education she provided him, transitioning from Luigi De Angelis to Luigi Noah De Angelis.
Since 2024, he has been writing a film titled Le courant d’Alexandre, produced by Caroline Houben for Climax Films (Brussels), inspired by the exploits of the great naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, the first ecologist of humanity. He received a grant from the Ministry of Culture of Wallonia-Brussels, which enabled him to collaborate with Belgian screenwriter Thomas van Zuylen.
Together with Chiara Caterina, a filmmaker, he is writing the immersive 3D film I Put a Spell on You, based on the performance Nina by Fanny & Alexander, starring soprano Claron Mcfadden.