Pierluigi Billone (*1960)

1 ITI KE MI for solo viola (1995) 33:11

2 Equilibrio. Cerchio for solo violin (2014) 33:45

TT 67:01

Marco Fusi violin – viola

2 Commissioned by Südwestrundfunk

Recording venue: BlowOutStudio (TV-Italy), www.blowoutstudio.it Recording date: 21–22 December 2016 Recording engineer: Luca Piovesan Mixing & Mastering: Luca Piovesan (BlowOutStudio) Graphic Design: Alexander Kremmers (paladino media), cover based on artwork by Erwin Bohatsch

2 3 THE INTERPRETER’S TASK: paths and find something different to do with my life. need to serve as my code of ethics, my armor. In order Beginning the learning process of a difficult new A PERCUSSIONIST’S WITNESSING Upon arriving in Germany, I met a sage who gave to to move forward, I would need to mitigate cognitive piece is comparable to opening the first page of a by Jonathan Hepfer me two pieces of crucial advice: dissonances between my praxis as an artist and the daunting tome. Since it is impossible to divine what person I was in everyday life. This meant undergoing its pages might contain, one must possess a sense of • Slow down my artistic metabolism. a period of dedicated self-cultivation and learning faith in the author of the work that the experience ly- 1. Ethos • Don’t grow my garden wider, but rather, deeper. to choose future repertoire judiciously. Through my ing ahead will be worth one’s time and concentration. work as an interpreter, I would come to know myself. This trust is by necessity based upon intuition. “The wandering, the peregrination toward that which is Not long after consulting this oracle, I attended the Questioning would become homecoming. worthy of being questioned, is not adventure, but home- Darmstadt Summer Courses, where I heard a piece “Over the years I have learned that everything reveals it- coming.” called Mani.De Leonardis by a composer named 2. Labor self only gradually and according to its own rules, and (Martin Heidegger) Pierluigi Billone. The piece remains one of three works this almost never happens as an answer to a direct ques- I remember vividly from the duration of that two- “It is generally assumed that people have two hands. For tion; hence every stage of this approach has its own ne- My first year of graduate school as a percussionist at week gauntlet (the other two were Xenakis’ Jonchaies me there are and have only ever been a very few who cessity, and nothing is trivial.” the University of California, San Diego served as a cru- and Kurtág’s …pas à pas – nulle part…). Billone’s piece, truly have as many hands as Mother Nature gives us. (Pierluigi Billone) cible for me; in a period of nine months, I undertook a twenty-minute sonic odyssey for mounted spring Giacometti was one of them: the right one extended, and withstood playing an unconscionable amount of coils, large glass bowls and voice served as my intro- modeled, and formed; the left scratched, removed and I began to work on what, at that time, were Billone’s challenging music. Consequently, by the end of the duction to the composer’s music. I was transfixed, im- hollowed out. The head sat directly between them.” three extant percussion solos: Mani.De Leonardis, spring quarter, I found myself in a state of physical, mediately recognizing a sort of musical kindred spirit. (Federico De Leonardis) Mani.Mono and Mani.Matta. From the first instant, mental and spiritual fragility, caught somewhere be- I knew that I had found something I had been search- tween exhaustion and paralysis. What I realized over the course of that summer (three In the years following these conversations, encoun- ing for. The scores, which were individually packaged months spent blissfully away from a practice room) ters and resolutions, I divided my days between in beautiful homemade envelopes, were all written I had entered the university in the autumn of 2007 op- was the following: reading, listening, watching, talking and practicing. (both meticulously and charmingly) by hand. Each timistic and ravenous. However, following my stretch • Yes, this was indeed what I wanted needed to do I learned slower, thought harder, and thereby, the stroke of the pen bespoke palpable care and disci- of musical avarice, I exited the academic year disil- with my life. The compulsion to pursue this path was quality of my interpretations became richer. I realized pline (Sorge), as though the composer were carving lusioned, unfulfilled, and asking myself some funda- inexplicable, rendering it all the more powerful. that if I were to grow my garden deeper, I would need epitaphs into tombstones. One could practically feel mental questions: • I love performing music by artists who possess a water and time. the tension in one’s own hand just by glancing at each deep respect for work, poetry and life. I love per- page. The notation was anything but minimal, and yet • Was this really what I wanted to do with my life? forming music by composers who challenge / in- An interpreter must have a few things to blossom: there was nothing superfluous. As a gesture of mutu- • What exactly do I love about performing music? spire / force me to grow. • A highly capable set of hands (craft) al respect (and out of a desire to obviate page turns), • What is the nature of the reward I should expect • The reward of practicing this art form must be ac- • A developed ear that informs the activities of the I made painstaking shorthand versions of each score from devoting myself to this art form, if any? knowledged first and foremostinternally . Any exter- hands (taste) in my own handwriting in order to better understand nal validation can only be bonus. • A stimulated mind which inspires the imagery of the the overarching forms of the pieces. If, as Werner Her- I left California that June to spend the summer in Eu- ear (imagination) zog states, cinema is made with “the knees and the rope, knowing that if I couldn’t find convincing an- I came to the conclusion that if I were going to devote • An inspired animus that fuels the engagement of the thighs,” musical analysis is made through the cramp- swers to these questions, I would need to change my life to avant-garde music, these revelations would mind (spirit) ing of the writing hand.

4 5 The next step in the learning process was to find or (instrument). Billone speaks of the “listening hand” to annihilate (murder or kill is too literal a word) its ist has no concept that does not lie within the abun- build the requisite instruments for each piece. In the and “intelligence of the hand” functioning as guides inhabitants if it senses any hint of their carelessness dant compass of a marble block,” and so he would case of Mani.De Leonardis, I scoured junkyards along on the way to desirable sound. It is the performer’s or disrespect. To prevent the worst from happening, send an assistant to the quarry to “seek his statues the Mexican border for the perfect spring coils. For task to focus and trust. the characters throw a white rag tied to a metal nut in from among the stones.” Michelangelo believed that Mani.Mono, I searched through heaps of scrap met- front of them for the purpose of confirming that “the the statues were already formed; it was simply his job al of various thicknesses to find the right materi- What distinguishes Billone’s music from all others, in Zone” will allow them to proceed on their route. to “carve away the excess.” I imagine that this is how als for the thunder tube to strike / rub against. For my experience, is the degree to which the performer Billone conceives of each instrument for which he Mani.Matta, I worked with a carpenter to fashion and vicariously senses traces of the composer’s bodily pres- When interpreting Billone’s music, the perform- composes a solo piece. tune artisanal log drums. The important thing in each ence when trying to absorb the sonic vocabulary of a er wanders through the composer’s version of “the case was that the quest for the ideal materials took given piece. While working, one feels the apparition of Zone,” just as the characters do in Stalker. One is I know of no other composer so fully able to strip me out of the academy and into the world. The prob- Billone’s hand demonstrating exactly how much pres- guided by the score through a musical landscape, or away the historical baggage of an instrument as ing quality of these searches (down to the minutia) sure to exert when producing a given arcane harmon- through a variety of rooms. Certain rooms are omi- Billone. Whatever sonic object he writes for, wheth- was anything but inconsequential; failing to find a ic. One directly experiences the awe that Billone must nous, others are treacherous, and still others are bliss- er viola, spring coils or bassoon, he manages to coax certain thickness of foam, hardness of hammer, or have felt the first time he discovered that a springdrum ful. Each space reveals something about the person out a sound world unlike anything in that particular surface texture of sheet metal could prevent a variety was capable of producing whistle tones, or that a viola who is walking through it. And while this might feel instrument’s existing body of literature. Whatever the of special sounds from speaking (and thus these piec- could mimic the brakes of a train pulling into a station. like aimless flânerie, each step (musical gesture or sound source, the composer’s voice is always immedi- es from coming to life). If the performer heeds the composer’s directions, he phrase) of the interpreter must be endowed with a ately recognizable. There is no aristocracy / peasantry will discover that the score whispers precious secrets – deep sense of purpose. Only then will this “Zone” al- in Billone’s sound world; a children’s toy receives the After acquiring suitable materials (in the case of a insofar as the performer is willing to listen. low the traveler to continue on his path; only then will same sophisticated treatment as a violin. By dispos- percussionist, finding or building them, or in the case the piece remain magical. sessing an instrument of its tradition (carving away its of a violinist or violist in pieces like Billone’s ITI KE MI 3. Faith excess), Billone, in a sense, reduces the object to its and Equilibrio.Cerchio, restringing his instrument and 4. Alchemy sonic essence, revealing its purest form. In the words adapting to its scordatura), the performer must set “I’m a man to whom God gave the possibility of being a of Tarkovsky, “a true artist does not experiment or about learning each type of individual sonic material poet, meaning, of praying in another manner than the “For in truth, art lies hidden within nature; he who can search – he finds.” denoted by the composer. During this phase, the in- one used by the faithful in a cathedral.” wrest it from her, has it.” terpreter’s concern is learning an alphabet, not writ- (Andrei Tarkovsky) (Albrecht Dürer) Each of Billone’s scores presents a wide spectrum of ing verse. For a percussionist, this could mean learn- instrumental techniques, spanning from the most ing to cajole specific partials from spring coils, or how Once the interpreter commands each of the sound In his essay On the Origin of The Work of Art, Heidegger conventional / predictable to extended techniques to mute the bars of a bass marimba so that they simu- material types that Billone calls for, he must next con- speaks of turning “earth” into “world.” By this, he that disarm and astonish the performer. In these cas- late claves. For a string player, this might entail learn- front the perils of a meandering, labyrinthine form. means that the artist’s job is to take raw materials and es, there are moments when the interpreter is himself ing to finely calibrate degrees ofponticello and tasto Billone’s pieces, in their large-scale trajectories, al- through some sort of transformative process, make unable to comprehend quite how he is conjuring cer- relative to bow pressure and proportion of bow hair / ways remind me of “the Zone” in Tarkovsky’s Stalker. them “speak” as something new, albeit something tain sounds, despite an assumed intimacy with his in- wood upon strings. This takes a great deal of humility In the film, the character “Stalker” leads two com- useless. “World,” in other words, is concealed, or latent strument. This gamut of techniques bridges the quo- and patience, since the performer is applying years of panions, “Writer” and “Professor,” into a surreal, dere- within “earth” and is waiting for someone to unveil it. tidian to the magical. The space between these two hard-earned expertise to an essentially foreign object lict landscape known as “the Zone,” which is known Similarly, Michelangelo wrote that “the excellent art- poles is where alchemy takes place.

6 7 In Billone’s solo pieces, the instrument invariably be- 5. “We are not mad. We are serious.” each express a common devotion to a life that is full of comes something other than what it started out as. deep humility, quiet strength, beauty (in unconven- As the conduit of this transformation, the performer “Oh mother, oh mother, tional forms) and militant righteousness. This seems becomes the sorcerer’s apprentice (composer’s ac- the air is that lightness to me to be the true ethos of the composer’s music. complice). The listener also changes irrevocably; one surrounding your head And this is what fuels my desire to perform it. cannot possibly listen to these instruments with the which becomes clearer same ears after immersion in Billone’s sonic universe. when you laugh. “The artist is the origin of the work. The work is the origin Now music!” of the artist. Neither is without the other.” In ITI KE MI, the viola strings become the cries of birds, (Domenico [in Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia,” quoted in (Heidegger) become fabric tearing. The tailpiece becomes phe- Billone’s “ITI KE MI”]) nomenological human voice. In Equilibrio.Cerchio, In Billone’s music, I continue to find the connections the sounding body of the violin becomes flickering The greatest difficulty in writing about Billone’s music between the external referents and the sounds them- light (the throbbing of dissonance). The result of bow from a secondary perspective is separating the verbal, selves (thankfully) nebulous. However, I feel these pressed to string (with the right hand) connected to the conceptual, the visceral, and the intellectual from purportedly independent strata to be in perfect har- the sounding object (violin or viola), with the inter- the sound itself. Billone’s scores are absolutely rife mony while I am performing the composer’s works. vention of a manipulator (left hand) produces some- with extramusical referents: there are direct allusions They do not clash; they nourish each other. This is not thing the composer has elsewhere referred to as a to artists (Giacometti, De Leonardis, Matta-Clark, something I deduce logically, but rather something I “closed circuit.” Whatever energy manages to escape Tarkovsky), historical figures (Crazy Horse, Mother intuit. As for those aspects of these works that remain becomes music. Teresa), and films (Nostalghia), not to mention titles enigmatic, they are to be celebrated. As Adorno puts in ancient Sumerian (e.g. ITI KE MI, which translates as it, music “cannot be pinned down as to what it says, “My complete admiration and thanks go out to the per- “New Moon. Mouth. Feminine.”) And yet the compos- and yet it speaks.” Okay. Enough words. Now music! former.” er insists that for him, “the pieces could have no au- (Pierluigi Billone) thor and even no title. They are already consistent in their sound reality. This is the main (only) thing I am The credibility of this transformation, this becoming, interested in.” depends upon the herculean intelligence, insightful- ness, commitment, dexterity and acumen of a per- I do not have any rebuttal to Billone’s stance on this former who is able to reify that which the composer matter; I respect and admire him for his reticence con- puts to paper. On the present recording, Billone finds cerning this sacred aspect of his work. As Heraclitus an artistic equal in the marvelous young violinist / vi- said, “things keep their secrets.” Rightly so. The per- olist Marco Fusi – a partner in alchemy who breathes former is, however, well within his rights to serve as a the same rarified air as the composer. In Tarkovskian musical archaeologist, excavating every possible arti- terms, “one drop plus another drop makes one larger fact, if it enriches his interpretation, and/or his life off- drop, not two.” stage. In my own “digging,” I have found that there is a striking consistency among Billone’s subjects: they

8 9 Marco Fusi This, in turn, generates the need of additional atten- diverse materials (horsehair, wood, metal, flesh), and interpretation which is focused towards an arrival A few interpretative annotations. tion to the pronunciation and to the articulation of agogics in constant fluctuation keep the performer in point, Equilibrio. Cerchio happens in the present. The each phoneme. a continuous state of movement between the instru- repetition of the verses has no direction, no evolution. mental elements and techniques. The abundance of It describes a sound state. It is clear for the performer I am not sure whether music is a language. However, The modifications which have been submitted to details, both in notation and in perception, is taken to as early as the second page of the score, where the the comparison with a spoken language permits us to the instruments, in both musical works, are substan- extremes in its variety, bringing the instrumentalist movement stops, leaving a static, eternal sound. The investigate a few interesting aspects of the specific in- tial. The estrangement from the linguistic tradition of close to a manic extenuation. Through the constant pulsation of the body, inevitable and desirable, be- terpretation of the two musical works which are pre- bowed instruments is evident. Thus the instrumental- variation of each fragment, the interpreter is request- comes a constituent of the sound. sented in this recording. ist must face practical difficulties of various types. ed to maintain a performative tension which enables the listener to perceive the broad formal structure, With these two compositions, Billone adds new pho- The majority of languages are composed by sounds A set of specifically built strings for each instrument, which simultaneously helps the player to advance nic resources to the possibilities of bowed instru- which convey a meaning. In order to make this mean- in both works very distant from the traditional stan- through the performance. ments, new technical capacities, new perspectives of ing understandable, it is necessary that the auditory dard tuning, inevitably produces a high complexity in The musical itinerary is etched; a fragile and uncertain inquiry. He even composed works which are not com- vehicle is correctly expressed, and that it is completely terms of notation and of score-reading. initial gesture (the first metallic sounds) which is also pletely comfortable, because they take the perform- recognizable. a request of access to experiencing the composition. ers far from their well-known territory. This reminds At a deeper level, this new tuning forces the instru- A very huge and broad exploration arc. A short and us of the importance of researching without compro- Like anyone who is approaching a foreign language ment to vibrate according to frequencies which never metallic conclusive gesture. mise, in unexplored territories, with curiosity and con- which is linguistically far from their own, the interpret- belonged to it, thus radically altering the capability of fidence. er who comes close to these musical works will inevi- vibration of the soundboard and sound box. It con- Equilibrio. Cerchio is limited to a microscopic space tably have to understand and internalize the sounds, stricts the instrument to a momentary aphonia and a (less than an octave between the first and fourth translated by Alberto Mesirca which are specific to the works, in order to be able to consequent rebalancing. strings), focusing on very few gestures which are con- reproduce them correctly. stantly sharpened. The meditative practice is not just The performer’s initial task is to explore the phonic pe- an abstract concept. The performer intends to elim- Billone’s compositions modify the connotation of the culiarities of the newly-set and redefined instruments. inate the changes of bow direction, in order to rep- Violin or the Viola. They bend the instruments to the Before approaching the musical score, the research resent a breathing circularity, thus to be able to ex- needs of the sounds that the instruments will emit, should be actuated in the instrumental body itself, in plore, without any interruption, the unexpected and in a way which is similar to the modifications of the the new and unexpected possibilities that these deep pulsating consonance of the internal sine wave beats phonation of someone who is learning the sounds of modifications enable. Curiosity and patience towards between bichords. Coming closer to this result impli- a second language. the sounds which are progressively encountered, per- cates a continuous physical practice, a control of the ceived and appreciated, are necessary to help the in- pressure / weight / speed / balance of the bow, con- Similarly, the comprehension and the subsequent strument emerge from the shock state generated by scious and controlled breathing in order to reach the reproduction of the musical scores modifies the in- the tension and strings’ modifications. necessary muscular tonicity; constant checking and terpreter’s perception. A more intense capability of reshaping of the results through listening. A type of listening to his own diction arises, which generates a ITI KE MI exhaustively explores its new acoustic space. practice which has many points of contact with the deepened understanding of the auditory phenomena. Various techniques of sound production, friction of practice of yoga. If ITI SE MI permits and requires an

10 11 Marco Fusi Le modifiche cui gli strumenti sono sottoposti, in del dettaglio, sia nella notazione che nella percezio- annulla, lasciando un suono statico, eterno. La pul- Alcune annotazioni interpretative. entrambi i lavori, sono sostanziali. L’allontanamento ne, viene estremizzata nella sua varietà, portando lo sazione del corpo, inevitabile e desiderabile, diventa dalla tradizione linguistica degli strumenti ad arco è strumentista vicino ad una estenuazione maniacale. una componente del suono. evidente. Lo strumentista quindi si trova ad affrontare Nella costante variazione di ogni singolo frammento, Non sono sicuro che la musica sia un linguaggio. Il pa- difficoltà pratiche di vario ordine. viene richiesto all’interprete di mantenere una tensio- Con questi due lavori, Billone aggiunge nuove risorse ragone con una lingua parlata, però, consente di inve- ne esecutiva che consenta all’ascoltatore di percepire sonore alle possibilità degli strumenti ad arco, nuove stigare alcuni aspetti interessanti dell’interpretazione Un set di corde ad hoc per ciascuno degli strumenti, in l´ampio arco formale, aiutando al tempo stesso l’ese- capacità tecniche, nuove prospettive di indagine. Ha specifica dei due brani proposti in questo CD. entrambi i lavori molto distante dall’accordatura tra- cutore a progredire nella performance. Il percorso da anche composto opere non confortevoli, che allonta- dizionale produce inevitabilmente un´alta complessi- seguire è tracciato; un fragile e incerto gesto iniziale (i nano gli interpreti dal territorio conosciuto. Che ci ri- La maggior parte delle lingue si compone di suoni tà di notazione e di lettura della partitura. primi suoni metallici) che è anche una richiesta di ac- cordano l’importanza di ricercare senza compromessi che veicolano un significato. Affinché questo signifi- cesso all’esperienza del brano. Un lunghissimo arco di in territori inesplorati, con curiosità e fiducia. cato sia compreso, è necessario che il veicolo sonoro Ad un livello più profondo, questa nuova accordatura esplorazione. Un gesto conclusivo breve e metallico. sia correttamente espresso, e che sia completamente forza lo strumento a vibrare secondo frequenze che recepibile. non gli sono mai appartenute, alterando radicalmen- Equilibrio. Cerchio si costringe in uno spazio microsco- te la capacità di vibrazione della cassa armonica. Co- pico (tra la I e la IV corda meno di un’ottava), concen- Come per chiunque si approcci ad una lingua stranie- stringe lo strumento ad un’afonia momentanea e ad trandosi su pochissimi gesti che vengono mantenuti ra distante, l’interprete che si avvicina a questi lavori, un successivo riequilibrio. costantemente a fuoco. La pratica meditativa non è dovrà inevitabilmente comprendere e interiorizzare i solo un concetto astratto. L’esecutore vuole eliminare suoni che all’opera sono propri, in modo da essere in Compito iniziale dell’interprete è di esplorare le pe- i cambiamenti di direzione dell’arco, per rappresen- grado di riprodurli correttamente culiarità foniche degli strumenti così ridefiniti. Prima tare una circolarità nella respirazione, così da poter di avvicinare la partitura, la ricerca è nel corpo stesso esplorare senza interruzione la consonanza anomala I lavori di Billone modificano la connotazione del vio- dello strumento, nelle nuove e inaspettate possibili- e pulsante di battimenti interni tra i bicordi. Avvicina- lino o della viola, la piegano alle esigenze dei suoni tà che queste modifiche profonde consentono. La cu- re questo risultato comporta una pratica fisica costan- che essi produrranno. In maniera non dissimile dalle riosità e la pazienza nei confronti dei suoni che, poco te, un controllo della pressione / peso / velocità / bi- modifiche nella fonazione di chi apprende i suoni di alla volta si incontrano, percepiscono e apprezzano, lanciamento dell’arco, una respirazione cosciente e una seconda lingua. è necessaria per aiutare lo strumento ad emergere misurata per raggiungere la tonicità muscolare ne- dallo stato di shock dovuto alle modifiche di tensio- cessaria. Controllando e rimodulando costantemen- La comprensione e quindi la riproduzione delle par- ne delle corde. te il risultato attraverso l’ascolto. Una forma di studio titure modifica, similmente, la percezione dell’inter- che ha diversi punti di contatto con la pratica dello prete. Affiora gradualmente una maggior capacità di ITI KE MI esplora esaustivamente il suo nuovo spazio yoga. Se ITI KE MI consente e richiede un’interpreta- ascolto della propria dizione, che genera una appro- acustico. Tecniche di produzione sonora di vario ge- zione focalizzata verso un punto di arrivo, Equilibrio. fondita comprensione dei fenomeni sonori, che a sua nere, attrito tra materiali diversi (crine, legno, metal- Cerchio succede nel presente. La ripetizione dei versi volta genera la necessità di un’ulteriore attenzione lo, carne), agogiche in oscillazione costante, manten- non include nessuna direzione, nessuna evoluzione. alla pronuncia e all’articolazione di ciascun fonema. gono l’esecutore in uno stato di continuo movimento Descrive uno stato sonoro. È chiaro, per l’interprete, tra gli elementi e le tecniche strumentali. La ricchezza fino dalla seconda pagina, laddove il movimento si

12 13 Pierluigi Billone IEMA-Ensemble Modern Akademie 2008, Harvard University 2010, Columbia University NY 2010, MCME Born in 1960 in Italy, Pierluigi Billone lives in Vienna. International Academy Russland 2011, Ferienkurse He studied composition with Salvatore Sciarrino and Darmstadt 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, Impulse Akade- Helmut Lachenmann. mie Graz 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, Tzlil Meducan Isra- el 2011, 2014, 2015, MCIC Madrid 2015, 2016, Boston Billone’s music has been performed by relevant in- University 2015, New York University 2015, Compos- terpreters in festivals such as Wien Modern, Festi- it-Rieti 2015, 2016, 2017, Royaumont voix Nouvelles val d’Automne Paris, Donaueschinger Musiktagen, 2016. Wittener Tagen für neue Kammermusik, Eclat-Stutt- gart, Ultraschall-Berlin, Musica Viva München, TFNM The works of Pierluigi Billone appear on the Kairos, Zürich, Ars Musica Bruxelles, Huddersfi eld NMF, Rainy Stradivarius, Col-legno, Durian, EMSA and Ein_Klang Days Luxembourg, World Music Days Wroclaw, Bien- labels. nale Zagreb, Boston, New York, Monday Ev. Concerts Los Angeles, and Bendigo Festival Sidney. pierluigibillone.com

His music has been regularly broadcasted from the most important radio stations (BBC, WDR, SDR, BRD, NDR, ORF, DRS, RCE, RF, NR) in and beyond Europe.

His works have received international awards such as the Kompositionspreis der Stadt Stuttgart (Stutt- gart 1993), the Busoni-Kompositionspreis (Academy of Arts Berlin 1996) the Wiener Internationaler Kom- positionspreis (Vienna 2004), the Ernst-Krenek-Preis (Vienna 2006), and the Kompositionspreis der Ernst- von-Siemens-Musikstiftung (Munich 2010).

From 2006 to 2008 Pierluigi Billone was the guest professor for composition at the Music University Graz, in 2009 at the Music University of Frankfurt, and from 2010 until 2012 at the Music University Graz. In 2017, he is the Visiting Professor at the Escola Superi- or de Música de Barcellona. He is regularly invited as

14 15 Marco Fusi

Marco Fusi is a violinist, violist and a passionate advo- cate for the music of our time. Among many collab- orations with established and emerging composers, he has recently premiered works by Billone, Scelsi, Sciarrino, Eötvös, Cendo, and Ferneyhough.

Marco has performed with Pierre Boulez, Lorin Maazel, Alan Gilbert, Beat Furrer, and David Robertson, and he frequently plays with leading contemporary en- sembles including Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Linea, Interface (Frankfurt), Phoenix (Basel), and Handwerk (Köln).

Marco also plays viola d’amore, commissioning new pieces and collaborating with composers in order to promote and expand existing repertoire for the instrument.

16 17 ITI KE MI Sketch by Pierluigi Billone

0015019KAI ISRC: ATK941751901 to 02 10488