Bonsai (2017)

for ensemble

Co-commission: Divertimento Ensemble

Instrumentation:  fl, cl, perc, nord dr, vn, va, vc, db

Duration: 10’

Publisher: Casa Ricordi

Première: 06.06.2017 @ Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato, Milan (IT), Divertimento Ensemble, Sandro Gorli (cond.)

The practice of Bonsai develops on a long-term cultivation, crossing and passing down through several generations of growers, an art work that requires patience, precision and care, which is never meant to be “finished”.  This dilated time contrasts with a reduced space, a miniature of the original form, supposed to express the same energy of the “normal” plant on a different scale.

The growth and development in (and of-) a reduced space is the main idea underlying the composition, both on the material’s choice and on its form’s articulation. Sounds are treated [at least on a compositional level] as miniature brunches, following their growth, addressing their curves, bending, adapting and tightening them in the limited space where they raise, live and vanish.

PERFORMANCES

06.06.17 @ Piccolo Teatro, Milan. Divertimento Ensemble WP

23.02.18 @ Musiikkitalo, Helsinki (FI), NYKY Ensemble

23.09.24 @ Le Mom, Liège (BE), Ensemble Hopper


Bonsai.Pando (2020)

for small orchestra

Written for: Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble / American Academy in Rome 125th Anniversary

Instrumentation: fl, cl, bsn, 2 hrn, tbn, perc, perc synth, vn I & II, va I & II, vc I & II, db I & II.

Duration: 10′

Publisher: Casa Ricordi

Prémiere: 18.04.2020 @ Parco della Musica, Rome (IT) PMCE Ensemble, Tonino Battista (cond.)   CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

Pando (Utah, USA) is a clonal colony of trees with a huge common root system. It is among the oldest living organisms on earth. Bonsai.Pando is an “augmented” version of the already existing piece “Bonsai” (2017, for 8 instruments), in which the concept of growth of/in a reduced space is extended to the orchestral context.

The piece was written for the 125th anniversary of the American Academy in Rome.