Italian Modern Composers 28 April 7:30 p.m. concert

Italian 2 016Cultural Institute season “Italian Modern Composers” 28 April 2016, 7.30pm

On the occasion of the festival Goodbye Dolce Vita: ITALIAN MODERN COMPOSERS: SCARLATO - VERLINGIERI - CASELLI - RAVERA - MARCONI - MORGANTINI - TURI

Presentation: Dimitri Scarlato in conversation with: Prof. Jonathan Cole

Gabriele Caselli: Sei cantiche su trillo Amazzonico (for solo ) - UK premiere Marco Morgantini: Sequor (for solo violin) - UK premiere Domenico Turi: Tre piccoli pezzi (for violin and piano) - UK premiere Gianluca Verlingieri: imaginActions (for solo cello) Laura Marconi: Birds of Paradise (for violin and cello) - World premiere Dimitri Scarlato: The Migrant’s Tale (for solo cello) - World premiere Alessandra Ravera: Corde in canto (for violin and cello) - UK premiere

Cello: Rohan de Saram Violin: Mandhira de Saram

Dimitri Scarlato: Dimitri Scarlato is a Composer and Conductor born and bred in Rome where he studied Composition, Piano and Conducting at the Conservatorio di Musica S.Cecilia. In 2004 he moved to London to attend an MMus in Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and in 2014 he completed a DMus in Composition at the Royal College of Music, which in 2010 selected him as a RCM Rising Star. His music has been performed in several venues across Europe and Accademia Filarmonica Romana (Italian institution which regularly worked with Stravinsky) premiered his opera Fadwa in May 2013 at Teatro Olimpico, Rome. In 2011 Dimitri has been selected at VOX3 - Composing for Voice at the Royal Opera House of London, and at the Berlinale Talent Campus 2011 as a film composer. In this 2014 he has been the music/conducting coach for sir Michael Caine on the new Sorrentino’s film Youth (premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and released in the UK 2016). In 2015 he won the 3rd Composition Competition at the International Spring Orchestra Festival, with his piece Caduceo, written for two pianos. In the same year he conducted the premieres of his two new works at the Barbican Hall, during the inaugural concert of MiSST (trust which supports music education in schools, funded by sir Andrew Llyod Webber). Last November Nuova Consonanza (leading association which promotes contemporary music in Rome) premiered his last opera The Christmas Truce at Teatro Palladium in Rome. His wide curiosity draws him to work also as composer/sound designer for films, documentaries and theatre, leading him to collaborate with upcoming British, Italian and Tunisian directors on several projects. Dimitri is dedicated to music education too, working as Composer in Residence for MiSST and lecturing History of Film Music at the RCM. He is currently completing the soundtrack for the Tunisian film Thala my love, and writing a new piece commissioned for the festival Ex Novo Musica 2016, which will be held next autumn at Teatro la Fenice in Venice. Jonathan Cole Since winning the Royal Philharmonic Composition Prize in 1999 Jonathan Cole has built up a continuing relationship with the London Sinfonietta who have premiered three of his pieces, toured Cole’s work in Sweden and Switzerland and have recorded “Testament” with conductor Oliver Knussen. Cole’s “Testament” and “Ouroboros II” were nominated for RPS awards. In 2003 George Benjamin chose Cole to be the recipient of a commission from the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the By George! Festival at the Barbican in London and in 2006 Mark Anthony Turnage programmed “Temporale Distante” as part of a festival with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester. Other ensembles and orchestras to programme and commission Cole include the Asko Ensemble, BBC Singers, Chamber Domaine, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Composer’s Ensemble, Icebreaker, Italian Radio Orchestra (Turin), London Brass, Nash Ensemble, Ojai Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Soyulla Trio and Tokyo Sinfonietta. Cole’s works have been featured at many festivals including Aldeburgh, Basle, Bath, Brighton, Britten (Aldeburgh), Cheltenham, Chicago Music Now!, Hoxton, Klara (Brussels), Musica Nova (Strasbourg), Music Past and Present, Music for Today (South Bank), Music Today 21 (Tokyo), Oxford, Ojai (USA), Spitalfields and in 1999, 2000 and 2002 his music was performed as part of the ‘State of the Nation’ Festival in London’s South Bank Centre. Many of his works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as well as in Belgium, Japan, Sweden and USA and recordings of his pieces include Caught (Composer’s Ensemble on NMC) and Testament (London Sinfonietta). Jonathan Cole is a professor of composition at the Royal College of Music and has taught at King’s College, London and the Purcell School. His pieces are published exclusively by G.Ricordi and he has written educational works for the ABRSM and the GSMD.

Rohan de Saram Rohan de Saram has become well known both for his advocacy of contemporary music and for his nearly three decades of service in the , itself a bastion for the performance and championing of new music. While de Saram has, since the 1960s, been active in performing contemporary music, he has hardly neglected more traditional composers, having developed a remarkably vast and eclectic repertoire. De Saram has had more than 40 works dedicated to him, works he has generally premiered. Among the many works that would be dedicated to him was the 2002 Berio Sequenza XIV, which de Saram premiered and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Born in to Sri Lankan parents, Rohan de Saram developed proficiency on the cello in his early childhood and at the age of 11 he was invited to study in Italy with Gaspar Cassadó. As a recipient of the Award he was able to have later studies with . After his debut at Carnegie Hall, his international career brought him back to London, where he soon began teaching at the Trinity College of Music. In 1977 de Saram joined the Arditti Quartet, remaining a member until 2005. As a member of the Arditti Quartet, de Saram made well over 30 recordings, and about that many as a soloist and freelance player. He is continuing to teach and perform as a soloist, regularly appearing at the Darmstadt Summer School; New Music Festival in Ruemlingen, Switzerland; and in major venues across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Mandhira de Saram Mandhira is a versatile violinist performing as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral violinist in the UK and abroad. She graduated with a 1st class honours from the University of Oxford achieving a high 1st in performance and winning the Worcester College Arts Prize for the highest result in an arts subject. She is also a founding member and leader of the Ligeti Quartet, a young string quartet which is quickly establishing a reputation as a leading exponent of contemporary music. International solo and chamber music tours have taken her around Europe as well as the USA, India, China and her country of origin, . In the UK she has performed in prestigious London venues such as the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and Cadogan Hall. Other UK venues include St George’s Bristol, the Sheldonian Theatre, Jacqueline du Pre Music Building and Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford. Her repertoire is varied consisting of standard classical works as well as new and experimental projects often involving collaborations with contemporary composers, sound artists and musicians from a variety of genres outside classical music. With her quartet she has worked with Neil Hanon (The Divine Comedy), Wadada Leo Smith, Shabaka Hutchings Chris Helme , Laura Jurd, Kerry Andrew and, following a tour to China and Hong Kong, has collaborated with leading Hong Kong DJ Choi Sai Ho and Japanese sound artist mamoru. Mandhira was born in London. After completing her primary education in Sri Lanka, she was awarded a music scholarship to North London Collegiate School where she completed her secondary education. She was also a Leverhulme Scholar at the Junior Royal Academy of Music where she performed both as a violinist and pianist, also taking classes in composition and conducting. Her violin teachers have included Igor Petrushevsky, Howard Davis and Levon Chilingirian.

Caselli - Sei cantiche su trillo Amazzonico “A bird doesn’t sing because has an answer, but because it has a song” (old Chinese saying). The beautiful song of the Musician wren (Cyphorhinus Aradus), native of the Amazon Rainforest, is applied as theme and developed in six carols that exploit various compositional techniques. It is a sort of journey through variations, where the theme isn’t created by the man but by the nature.

Gabriele Caselli was born in Pisa and Graduated in Piano and Composition at the “Luigi Boccherini” Musical Institute in Lucca. He attended several masterclasses, including one with Girolamo Deraco (composer in residence at the Montegral Academy), and one with Louis Bacalov in Film Music, at the prestigious Chigiana Academy in Siena (Italy). He is currently studying with Alberto E. Colla, completing his Postgraduate Diploma at the Canepa” Musical Institute of Sassari. Gabriele also composes music for films, amongst them 4 feature films produced by Uwe Boll and Extreme Video, which are worldwide distributed. He is a member of the “Cluster-European Composers” Association in Lucca (Italy).

Morgantini - Sequor The truths are not within the circumference of a circle whose centre is the man. The truth will stand out in inaccessible places: man wanders along the twists and turns of a path that reveals, occults, and in the end, equally, shows or hides. The truths converge on one truth, but the paths are interrupted.

Marco Morgantini is a composer and a pianist. He started playing piano at a very young age, graduating (with honours) at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He then graduated (with honours) in Chamber Music, Music Education and Composition at the same Conservatory. He Won the First Prize at the International Guitar Petrassi with the composition “ Sol Niger “. He attended to workshops held by Luis De Pablo, Beat Furrer, Mark Andre and attended the Masters in Composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Ivan Fedele. His compositions have been performed by prestigious ensembles such as the PMCE at the Parco della Musica in Rome. More than in these personal details, he recognises himself in his works.

Turi - Tre piccoli pezzi Three aphorisms. Three small thoughts suspended in time. Three moments to immerse into sound and yourself.

Born in the Italian region of Apulia, Domenico Turi is composer and pianist who studied music at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. He obtained his degree in Piano performance studying with Riccardo Marini, and in Composition studying with Matteo D’Amico. He also attended several composition master classes taught by Scodanibbio, Stroppa, Hosokawa, Scurti, Battistelli and Sciarrino. Turi has been commissioned by Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Accademia Filarmonica Romana in Rome, Amici della Musica di Foligno, Camerata Italica and by Nuova Consonanza for their 49th and 50th festival of contemporary classic music in Rome. His compositions have been performed at various festivals and concerts in Italy and abroad: Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Finland, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Netherlands, Hungary, China, Switzerland, Romania and Lithuania. Turi has also written music for stage plays, soundtracks for short films and documentaries by directors such as Idalberto Fei, Elisa Rocca, Danilo Gattai, Oriana Marelli, Eros Achiardi, Emiliano Crialesi and Wilson Alvarenga. His works are published by Edizioni Musicali Sconfinarte. Verlingieri - ImaginActions (2008-2016) Similarly to what happened with the mediaeval contrafacta, at the beginning of the last century an ancient French folk tune of the XVII century, originating from Picardy, was matched with a sacred text from the IV century, which incipit of the English version says: “Let all mortal flesh keep silent”. I was fascinated by the psalmodic melodic profile of that tune, in which a repercussion (a pitch repeated for a long time and prevalent on other pitches) is surrounded and enriched by fluctuations generated by its upper and lower turning notes. Hence, in ImaginActions, I considered the open strings of the instrument as centres of gravity around which the fragments of the folk tune are progressively unravelling, generating a continuous dialectic between the attempts of a lyrical outlet of the plain chant and the irruptions of mainly material gestures, echoing stylised rhythmical patterns of the Central African folk repertoire, and “Rock-distorted” sonorities. The piece has been composed in memoriam György Ligeti.

Gianluca Verlingieri has gained international consideration thanks to performances, commissions and projects held at major venues such as INA-GRM (Paris), Italian Academy at Columbia University (New York), Berlin Staatsoper, Parco della Musica (Rome), Florence Opera at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Aix en Provence Festival and numerous other venues in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, England, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Mexico, USA, New Zealand and Australia. Verlingieri’s compositions have been broadcasted by Radio France, which spoke of “virtuosité” and “talent exceptionnelle”, and released on CD by EMA Records, Limen Music, BIS Records and other labels. Several works of Verlingieri have been awarded in numerous competitions and call for scores in Europe and North America, and got honors from public and private institutions, included Cambridge University Press. Active as a researcher, Verlingieri classified ’s private sound archive at Centro Tempo Reale (Florence), now hosted at Paul Sacher Stiftung (Basel). He also researched on ’s musical theater, being personally encouraged by him, and on ’s tape music in collaboration with the archive of Milan’s Studio di Fonologia RAI and Edition Peters.

Marconi - Birds of Paradise Birds of Paradise it’s a dreamlike journey across the world of birds of Paradise, a mystic place between legend and reality. The first movement, Dhyana – melodia automatica, is a sort of prelude that leads the listener to a state of trance in order to make him perceiving the first vision: Visione 1: Alkonost (one amongst the several legendary names of birds of Paradise). In Duetto degli amanti and Danza rituale we can observe the couple’s love rituals: here the sounds and rhythms recalls the particular signals of courtship of the two birds. The last movement, Visione 2: ceneri, portrays a destruction and at the same time a new birth of the melody of the first vision (quotation from Deux beaux oiseaux du Parais by M. Ravel): it is known indeed that, just like the phoenix, birds of Paradise can reborn from their own ashes.

Laura Marconi started her musical studies with pianist M.Campajola, but she showed a deep interest towards composition since a very early age. After having completed her high school studies, she decides to enrol at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory of Turin to study composition, where she is now finishing her masters degree. She also studies choral conducting with M° D. Tabbia. Her passion to develop her musical knowledge led her to attend to several masterclasses in piano, composition and conducting: in Manchester with M° W. Godfree, in N.Y.C. (Columbia University) with M° F. Lévy, in Sermoneta (Italy) with M° A. Solbiati, in Alessandria (Italy) with M° A. Colla, in Turin with M° L. Gorli amongst others. In 2014 she won the First Prize and the Inaudita Musica Prize at the International Composition Competition of Festival Fiati in Novara (Italy). In 2015 the Conservatory of Turin commissioned hera piece for large ensemble on a project dedicated to C. Debussy’s Sonatas. In 2016 she was selected as a finalist at the Areon Flutes International Composition Competition (California). Her music has been performed in Italy and across Europe.

Scarlato: The Migrant’s Tale This composition is trying to portray the struggle, dreams and hopes of a migrant, who is escaping hunger, war and poverty in search of a better life. A story that is heard too frequently in these current days. This piece is dedicated to Rohan De Saram. Ravera - Corde di Canto The fundamental aspect of the piece is the dramatization of musical figures. The two instruments, both protagonists, lead a dialectical path animated by lyrical and rhythmic tension, dialogues, conflicts and contrasts of timbre that create a “theatre of musical gestures”. The score is the stage of this “theatre”.

Alessandra Ravera graduated with honors in Composition at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome. She continued her studies completing first the Biennio Specialistico, then the Postgraduate Course at the prestigious Santa Cecilia National Academy (Rome). Corghi and Fedele have been her composition tutors during her postgraduate studies. She also attended the highly respected Postgraduate Course at the Chigiana Academy. Alessandra was also taught by Dusapin and Sciarrino in composition master classes held at the French Academy in Rome. She also studied piano, orchestration for woodwind and brass ensemble and conducting at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory. Her compositions have been performed in several festivals and concert seasons. Orchestra Regionale della Toscana, the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, I Pomeriggi Musicali Orchestra of Milan, I Solisti Veneti, Algorithm Ensemble, New Made Ensemble, are some of the ensembles which performed her music. Conductors such as Renzetti, Angius, Scimone and Rustioni have conducted her music. She currently teaches Elements of Composition and Analysis of Compositional Forms at the Conservatory of Music “Carlo Gesualdo” in Potenza (Italy). Her works are published by Edizioni Musicali Sconfinarte and Rugginenti Editore (Milan).

Notes by the composers and S. Passamonte