Aureliano Cattaneo was born in Italy in 1974. He studied piano and composition with Vincenzo Balzani, Carlo Landini, Pippo Molino and Sonia Bo in Piacenza and Milan. He attended Masterclasses with Gerard Grisey and Mauricio Sotelo.

Winner of prizes of composition, in 2003 he won the "Comite de Lecture de l'IRCAM/Ensemble InterContemporain" and in 2005 he was selected as "Stipendiat" by the Akademie der Kunste of Berlin. in 2007 he was composer in residence of Ensemble 2e2m, Paris.

He has been awarded with the Forderpreis of the Musikpreis Salzburg 2013.

In 2016 He has been awarded with the "Premio Abbiati" for the "best premier" in Italy with "parole di settembre" (Venice Biennale) and "insieme" (Milano Musica).

His works have been performed in important Festival and venues: Munchener Biennale, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Wittener Tage fur neue Kammermusik, Wien Modern, Festival Musica Strasbourg, Biennale di Venezia, Salzburg Biennale, MaerzMusik Berlin, Musica Viva Munchen, Warsaw Autumn, Milano Musica, Festival Presences Paris, Manifeste Paris, Gaudeamus Amsterdam, Wien - Konzerthaus, Berlin – Konzerthaus and Philharmonie, Paris - Centre Pompidou and Philharmonie, Zurich - Tonhalle Maag, Hamburg - Elbphilharmonie, Munich - Gasteig, Madrid - Auditorio Nacional, New York, London, Rome, Milan, Turin, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Geneve, Basel, and played by leading ensembles and orchestras as SWR Sinfonie Orchester, WDR Sinfonie Orchester, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Il Giardino Armonico, Klangforum Wien, ensemble musikFabrik, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Contrechamps, Collegium Novum Zurich, Quatuor Diotima, Cuarteto Casals, Trio Accanto, mdi ensemble, Ensemble 2e2m, Schola Heidelberg, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Mosaik, Oenm, Divertimento Ensemble, Trio Arbos, conducted by Emilio Pomarico, Matthias Pintscher, Sylvain Cambreling, Francois-Xavier Roth, Stefan Asbury, Susanna Malkki, Jonathan Stockhammer, Giovanni Antonini, Beat Furrer, Michael Wendeberg, Lothar Zagrosek, Lucas Vis, Johannes Kalitzke, Enno Poppe, Walter Nussbaum, Sandro Gorli, Voro Garcia.

In June 2008 his first orchestral piece, “Violinkonzert”, was premiered at Konzerthaus Berlin by Viviane Hagner, violin and the Konzerthaus Orchester conducted by Lothar Zagrosek. His second piece for orchestra, “Selfportrait with orchestra”, was premiered by SWR Sinfonie Orchester conducted by Emilio Pomarico in Festival Musica Strasbourg 2010.

His chamber opera "la philosophie dans le labyrinthe", wrote joint with the poet Edoardo Sanguineti, was premiered in 2006 at the "10. Munchener Biennale". In October 2013 his full lenght vocal cycle "parole di settembre", on poems by Edoardo Sanguineti dedicated to Andrea Mantegna and visuals by Arotin&Serghei, was premiered in the Grosses Saal of Wien Konzerthaus by Klangforum Wien.

In June 2011 the label Stradivarius released a Cd dedicated to his works, performed by Petra Hoffmann, soprano, Carlos Gil, trombone and Ensemble Espai Sonor, conducted by Voro Garcia.

He received commissions from Klangforum Wien, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble musikFabrik, Ensemble Contrechamps, Collegium Novum Zurich, Oenm, Schola Heidelberg, Munchener Biennale, Berliner Konzerthaus, Wiener Konzerthaus, SWR for Donaueschinger Musiktage, WDR for Wittener Tage fur neue Kammermusik, IRCAM - Centre Pompidou, Milano Musica, Festival Presences - Radio France, Festival Musica Strasbourg, MaerzMusik Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Musica Viva of Bayerische Rundfunk, Netzzeit and Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Akademie der Kunste Berlin, Spanish Ministry of Culture and French Ministry of Culture, among others.

Since 2010 he is professor at ESMUC (Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya) - Barcelona.

His works are published by Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, Milan.

He lives in Madrid.