Tomorrow is the twentieth anniversary of the death of the Italian composer Luciano Berio.
May 27th marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of the Italian composer Luciano Berio (Imperia, 1925-Rome, 2003). In memory of his most illustrious neighbour, the small Tuscan village of Radicondoli has created Dialoghi: Luciano Berio Festival, which will celebrate the personality and music of the famous Ligurian musician over the weekend – from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th. The first of the “dialogues” referred to in the title of the festival is that between a village, Radicondoli, its inhabitants and various sound spaces inspired by the music or thought of Luciano Berio, who decided to settle in this village in the first half of the 1970s. The sound dialogues develop between indoors and outdoors, between the square and the concert hall, between professional and amateur musicians, between classical and popular music, between the music of today and that of the past, between a public and a private dimension, between generations and different perceptions…
Inspired by two central spatial and sonorous contexts in Berio’s work, the fiesta and the square, the Festival opens on 26 May with a collective, multimedia open-air show featuring a travelling sound performance (in which the figure of the town crier is reinterpreted in an electronic key), a band and a choir. Also opening at Palazzo Bizzarrini will be the sound installation In-Naturale, made up of fragments of some of his fundamental works – such as Naturale (Su melodie siciliane) and other sound elements from his limitless documentary excursions, enriched by the spatial dimension that Berio used from the very beginning of his repertoire. The installation – which will remain open until 25 June 2023 – has been created by Tempo Reale, an institution founded by Berio in Florence in 1987, and which is currently a reference point for research, production and training in the field of new musical technologies and electronic music.
On 27 May, the twentieth anniversary of the composer’s death, the Festival will host the piano and cello masterclass Gesto e tecnica performativa, which will serve as a prelude to a series of educational meetings scheduled for future editions of the Festival. The second day of the Festival closes with a concert in which music for piano (including four hands), solo cello and mixed choir by Luciano Berio, his father Ernesto and his grandfather Adolfo will dialogue with music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. Finally, on Sunday morning, 28th, the Festival moves from the city centre to Il Colombaio, Luciano Berio’s private residence, with a brass band playing popular music. In the garden and rooms of Berio’s house, the last tribute to the music of these days will resound.
The municipality of Radicondoli, the composer’s family and the Centro Studi Luciano Berio have signed a three-year agreement to guarantee the stability, resources and quality of this festival. For its part, the Centro Studi Luciano Berio has moved its headquarters from Florence to Radicondoli to take charge of the planning, organisation and staging of the events.