 Martirano worked in Italy from 1956 to 1959, when he was a resident fellow at the American Academy.Between 1959 and 1964, Martirano received commissions, awards, and fellowships from the Guggenheim, Ford, Koussevitzky, and Fromm Foundations, as well as from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Brandeis University.In 1963, Martirano joined the Theory and Composition Department at the University of Illinois in Urbana.