Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio was one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. Coming from a family of musicians, he was trained in piano and chamber music, but an injury to his hand led him to devote himself to composition.

Berio earned his living as an accompanist, and it was this work that led him to meet the American mezzo-soprano Cathy Berberian. The two married in 1950, and together explored and collaborated on the many possibilities offered by the voice, including the celebrated Sequenza III (1965), part of a series of compositions that extended up to 1995. He began experimenting with magnetic tape at that time (Mimusique n°1), and traveled to Darmstadt, where he met Boulez, Pousseur, and Kagel, immersing himself in serial music.

Starting in 1960, he taught at prestigious universities in the United States, before returning to Europe in 1972. At the invitation of Boulez, he directed the electroacoustics department of IRCAM (1974–1980), and in 1987 he founded in Florence Tempo Reale, a center for electronic and experimental music research.

In 1955, with his friend Bruno Maderna, he founded the Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano, Italy's first studio for electro-acoustics research. Products of his research there include Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) (1958), one of his most celebrated explorations of the relationship between word and music. music. Starting from Chapter XI, “The Sirens,” of James Joyce’s Ulysses, the composer investigated the poetic and sonic potential of language, treating the word not only as a bearer of meaning but also as musical material. The voice of Cathy Berberian, reading the English text, becomes the primary source: phonemes, onomatopoeias, and the inner rhythms of Joyce’s prose are analyzed, isolated, and transformed into true musical events.

Sat 29.11 7:00pm - Sala Italo Tajo, Pinerolo