Maximiliano Amici A.M.’18, Ph.D.’21 is leading a global music appreciation movement, one class at a time. A Roman-born Italian living in China, who earned a doctorate in composing at Duke, his passion lies in not only creating but exposing more people to new artistic paths.
He has led his students at Duke Kunshan University, where he’s an assistant professor of music and composition, to write their own works, giving them not only knowledge but also appreciation for everything from classical to electronica.
It’s a humble juxtaposition for a composer whose growing music catalog has been performed in Italy, Switzerland, China and the U.S., most recently on Duke’s own campus.
“It’s about understanding that the compositional, creative process is made of a lot of hard work rather than ‘pure’ inspiration,” says Amici, 45. “For most of my students – who have hardly any background in music creation – this is a surprise.”
His 200-level course culminates in a concert performed by professional musicians that features, along with pieces from the chamber music repertoire, new student compositions created as final projects. The concerts are video- and audio-documented, so that the pieces can become part of the portfolio for students’ applications to graduate studies.
“It’s all about confidence,” he says of ushering more students into the world of music – and life. “I think the most important, and for me gratifying, outcome of the course is the fact that by the end they realize they are able to do things they didn’t even suspect they could at the beginning of the term.
“I do my best to leave students with a sense of accomplishment that can empower them through the rest of their studies. I teach each of them where they are, and some do blossom and create interesting and original works.”
Amici came to professional music later in life than most. He grew up near the Vatican, listening to his mother, a classical concert pianist from Argentina, practice in their home. But he was more interested in other types of music, including classic rock.
He began his academic studies thinking he might become a philosopher. He loved music but had doubts about his talents and was recovering from severe tendinitis at 20 after long playing the violin, electric guitar and drums. Most musicians who succeed professionally, he said, start from a young age. He felt like he was a late bloomer.
He turned to composing, healing his injuries, he said, by playing piano, and because it is “purely abstract” and mental – a solitary endeavor, which suited his personality. He studied at a conservatory and later, as he developed, one of his compositions was recorded by the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in what he described as his career’s single most important moment. It was a turning point for his confidence.
He went on to earn one of three master’s degrees in piano performance before traveling to Durham in 2018 and beginning doctoral work. On campus, he holed up in a small office, struggling to understand the culture of a new country and to find his evolving musical voice.
But his time in the U.S. was a period of growth in which he blossomed under the tutelage of his doctoral supervisor Stephen Jaffe, the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Distinguished Professor of Music Composition, and professor of music and composer Scott Lindroth. They gave him greater confidence in his talents.
He graduated in 2021 and joined DKU as a global fellow soon after. DKU doesn’t offer a music major, but Amici seeks to broaden student creativity, teaching music theory, electronic music and composition. He also continues charting his own global musical path, which merges his love of Italy, his understanding of America and his new home in Kunshan, China, where he recently got married.
Fun fact: He wrote the music for DKU’s alma mater, setting into music lyrics by Christopher Van Velzer, the current dean of student experience.
In early 2025, Amici returned to the Durham campus to hear Duke’s own Ciompi Quartet perform “Encounters,” one of his latest contemporary works that elaborated on a Chinese melody brought into his unique voice. This year he also released a CD of his piano compositions, marking a broader expansion of his musical reach around the world.
As for his musical future, Amici says it’s important for him to contribute to what he describes as intercultural communication. With that notion, he returns to his original academic pursuit before music – philosophy. “I am writing a piece on the I Ching and I will develop most probably in written form a reasoning of how Chinese philosophy informs the compositional process.”