Ariadne

 „Hörst du? Sieh, ich kann zu dir sprechen, als wärst du hier, – und liegt doch die Nacht zwischen uns wie ein schwarzes Gebirge, und jeder Augenblick ist eine neue Felswand von Trennung, unübersteigbar, endgültiger mit jeder Stunde! Und dennoch bist du hier, immer näher bei mir, und nie konnte ich so zu dir sprechen wie jetzt. Du kamst aus der einen Einsamkeit und gehst in die andere, – jeder Kuss macht dich fremder, jede Umarmung ärmer. – Ich grüße dich, wie eine Klippe ihren Adler grüßt, der davonfliegt, seine Schwingen werden unsichtbar in der eisigen Ferne; wo seine Kralle ruhte, löst sich ein Stein und fällt in die Tiefe, das ist alles, und die Wälder bemerkten es nicht. Dorthin gelüstet es dich, nach den Wohnungen der Menschen, nach der tröstlichen Sprache des Windes im Geäst, ebenso wie es mich gelüstet. Höre nicht auf dein Herz und verstopfe mit Wachs deine Ohren, – denn nie wirst du das erreichen, was du ersehnst. Nicht hier und nirgendwo. Aber geh weiter, kehre nie zurück! Deine Einsamkeit verdoppelt die meine.“ (“Do you hear me? See, I can speak to you as if you were here, – yet the night lies between us as a black mountain range, and every moment is a new cliff of separation, insurmountable, more final by the hour! And yet you are here, ever closer to me, and never could I speak to you as I do now. You came from a solitude and continue into the next, – every kiss makes you stranger, every embrace poorer. – I greet you, as a cliff greets its eagle, flying away, the wings disappearing in the icy distance, where its claws rested, a stone loosens and falls into the deep, that is all, and the forests took no notice. You desire to be there, longing for the apartments of people, for the comforting language of the wind in the branches, just as I desire it. Do not listen to your heart and plug your ears with wax, – for you will never obtain what you long for. Not here and nowhere. But go further, never return! Your solitude doubles mine.” )

OVER THE SEA The idea for this pieces is a result of my interest in Monet’s painting. His almost obsessive fondness for different kinds of transparency leads to continuously changing objects in an ubiquitous watery element: sea, river, lake, pond… A similar relationship has developed between instruments and electronics in my music: at the beginning there is the written, instrumental composition; all transformations except for the synthetized sounds can be traced back to it. A dialectic is installed between acoustic and digital sound sources from the first bar of this piece: algorithms distort the instrumental template until it is unrecognizable, then they wait for the instrumental writing to gain back control – thus triggering the next round of processing. The result is an unstable, constantly changing sound world, that however from a formal point of view is strictly subdivided in six sequences. The accordion is mostly acting in symbiosis with the string instruments, in terms of colour it is an ideal bridge between acoustical and electronic spheres. My relationship to the sea has been an important source of inspiration for many compositions; in this piece it is seminal, the word „over“ having a multitude of spacial and figurative meanings.

 Italian soprano born in Cremona, she trained under the guidance of Luisa Castellani at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano. Contemporary music has become her niche of privileged research: to this end, she has completed studies with M. Hirayama in Rome on Scelsi’s vocal works, with A. Caiello and the Divertimento Ensemble in Milan, with N. Isherwood and the Ensemble Linea in Strasbourg. In 2016 she played the main character in the opera Limbus–Limbo by S. Gervasoni at the National Opera House in Kiev. Often praised in her performances of Berio’s Folksongs, in Italy and in Switzerland, she was also a soloist in Laborintus II at the Sala Verdi in Milan. Her performance of U. Chin’s Akrostichon-Wortspiel at the Spinola Banna Foundation, with the mdi ensemble under the direction of F. Perocco, was broadcast by Italy’s RadioTre. Together with Divertimento Ensemble, she sang Ligeti’s Aventures, Furrer’s Lotófagos and Castiglioni’s Cantus Planus, and she recorded Arie di Troposfera by F. Ciurlo for his upcoming monographic disc. With the vocal ensemble Vox Àltera she premiered B. Furrer’s „A sei voci“ in Mendrisio and in Venice. She has collaborated with Biennale Musica in Venice, LaVerdi Barocca, Scelsi Foundation, Milano Film Festival and various international symposiums and festivals of early music in Milan, Trento, Rovereto, Cagliari, Innsbruck and Ljubljana. In 2018 she won the competition for the post of soprano in the Choir of the Opéra de Dijon (France), where she also has soloistic collaborations: in 2019 she sang with Cappella Mediterranea in La finta pazza by F. Sacrati, on tour at Victoria Hall in Geneva and at the Opéra Royal in Versailles. In February 2020 she got the role of La Bonne in the world premiere of Strafen/Les Châtiments by B. Pauset, conducted by E. Pomarico.