Luigi Antonio Irlandini, Brazilian/Italian composer and instrumentalist (piano and shakuhachi), was born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in May 29, 1958. He writes instrumental and vocal music – solo, chamber and orchestral – with a special interest on percussion instruments, the shakuhachi, the piano, recorders, solo voice and vocal groups a cappella. As a composer-performer, Irlandini is often personally involved in the performance of his music both as a soloist or conductor. While his composed music is strictly connected to musical research, in which Western and non-Western, musical and philosophical, modern and ancient contents co-exist, forming his ideas of cosmofonia and musical cosmology, Irlandini's improvised music follows a completely different approach, connected to spontaneity and personal experience (as seen in his piano improvisation albums Azul e Areia, produced by Egberto Gismonti in 1985, and Surf Music, produced by Irlandini in 1999).
 
As a music professor at the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, UDESC, Irlandini teaches counterpoint, harmony, analysis and composition, and has his research activities centered in the interdisciplinary study of music composition. The main research topics are circular and spiral musical temporalities, the presence of non-Western and ancient contents in 20th- and 21st century compositional poetics. An emphasis goes to Japanese music of the gagaku and honkyoku traditions as well as the traditions of Indian rāga. The study of the relation of music composition with mythical thought, archetypal symbology, the imaginary and spirituality is also concentrated by an emphasis on Japanese Buddhism and Indian Vedas. His research has been published in academic music journals such as Perspectives of New Music (USA), Gaudeamus Muziekweek (Netherlands), Opus, Revista Vórtex , and Per Musi  (Brazil), some written in English, some in Portuguese, some in both. His first book, Música Nova do Mundo - no limiar de culturas, released in July 21, 2026 by Editora 7 Letras, collects articles about the interactions of New Music with non-Western musical traditions.

In 2019, Irlandini founded the International Shakuhachi Encounter of Santa Catarina (Encontro Internacional de Shakuhachi de Santa Catarina - EISSC), of which the Third Edition, EISSC-III will take place in Florianópolis in September 2026 (see EISSC page in this site).