Born in Campo Grande, Brazil, Cristiano Melli studied composition in São Paulo with Almeida Prado, Osvaldo Lacerda and Jocy de Oliveira. He was awarded scholarships at the International Music Festival of Campos do Jordão, the Curitiba Music Festival, and the Rio de Janeiro Biennale of Contemporary Music, among others.

In 2010, he moved to the Netherlands, completing his Bachelor and Master degrees in Composition at the Royal Conservatorium of The Hague, where he studied with Yannis Kyriakides, Cornelis de Bondt and Peter Adriaansz, and attended masterclasses with Christian Wolff and Hans Abrahamsen.

As dramaturgist, he has worked on award-winning productions such as Stockhausen's Aus LICHT in Amsterdam, Lohengrin in Malmö and L'Olimpiade in Stockholm. He is currently a Senior Researcher at Studio LOOS in Den Haag.