Fabio Vacchi was born in Bologna in 1949. Following studies with Giacomo Manzoni at the Bologna Conservatory and Franco Donatoni at the Chigiana Academy, he was awarded the Koussevitzky Prize in 1974. In the same year, he attended classes at the Berkeley Center in Tanglewood. His work was presented at the Venice Biennale in 1975, and the following year, his piece Les Soupirs de Geneviève for strings was awarded first prize at Gaudeamus.

His first opera, Girontondo, was premiered at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Festival in 1982.

Notable works include Tre studi for chambre orchestra (1974), Sinfonia (1978), Il cerchio e gli inganni for orchestra (1982), Concerto for piano and orchestra (1983), and Due canti della sera for chambre ensemble (1988). His theatrical/musical work Il viaggio, premiered in January 1992 at the Bologna Municipal Theatre and subsequently performed at the Lyon Opera, is representative of Vacchi’s tendency to bring his musical ideas, as opposed to a musical syntax, to the fore.