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RE41FFondazione

Italian Premiere
Co-produced with the American Academy in Rome
Accademia Americana a Roma

music - musica

Michael Gordon
Blow Up Percussion

Field of Vision

19 September 2026
18:00

Accademia Americana a Roma
60 min.

15 €
Passepartout 1
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Romaeuropa Festival and the American Academy in Rome have invited Blow Up Percussion to perform Field of Vision in Italy for the first time, a composition for 40 percussionists by American composer Michael Gordon. The work transforms the percussion ensemble into a true collective sonic organism, exploring complex textures and hypnotic dynamics. Gordon makes use of non-conventional instruments, including industrial metals, gongs, and even automobile brake drums, creating rich and surprising timbres.
Field of Vision is conceived as a spatial and three-dimensional listening experience, in which sound moves through space and engages both listeners and performers in an almost meditative perception. The work is part of a series in which Gordon explores the spatial distribution of instruments, generating an ever-evolving sonic architecture.
For this concert, Blow Up launched an international open call to select percussionists from across Europe, creating a unique collaboration on a continental scale. The project brings together technique, experimentation, and artistic exchange, making the Italian premiere of Field of Vision a landmark event in contemporary music.

Michael Gordon is an American composer known for his monumental and immersive works. Decasia, written for 55 re-tuned instruments positioned throughout the performance space and accompanied by Bill Morrison’s acclaimed cult film, was presented at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival and at London’s Southbank Centre. Timber, a true tour de force for percussion sextet performed on amplified microtonal simantras, has been staged on every continent, with performances including Slagwerk Den Haag at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam and Mantra Percussion at Brooklyn’s BAM. Natural History, born from a collaboration with the Klamath Tribe’s Steiger Butte Drum, had its world premiere performed by the Britt Festival Orchestra and Chorus on the rim of Crater Lake, Oregon, conducted by Teddy Abrams, and is featured in the PBS documentary Symphony for Nature. Gordon’s vocal catalogue includes Travel Guide to Nicaragua, an autobiographical choral work written for The Crossing; the opera What to Wear, created with legendary director Richard Foreman; and the film opera Acquanetta, developed with director Daniel Fish. Among his most recent recordings is Clouded Yellow, a complete collection of his string quartets performed by the Kronos Quartet. Gordon is co-founder of the music collective Bang on a Can alongside David Lang (1991 Fellow and 2017 Resident) and Julia Wolfe (2025 Resident). In spring 2027, he will be the Paul Fromm Resident in Composition at the American Academy in Rome.

Blow Up Percussion is a percussion ensemble founded in Rome in 2012. Alongside performing modern and contemporary repertoire, the ensemble is dedicated to presenting new works born from collaborations with composers, ensembles, and artists across diverse artistic fields. Collaborators include composers Francesco Filidei, Vittorio Montalti, Bryce Dessner, Christopher Cerrone, Laurent Durupt, Francesco Antonioni, Michele Tadini, and Eric Nathan; the ensembles PMCE and Prometeo; the London electronic duo Plaid; and cellist Mario Brunello. The ensemble has also distinguished itself through interpretations of works by Steve Reich and post-minimalist composers David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and John Luther Adams. In collaboration with Vittorio Montalti, Blow Up Percussion created The Smell of Blue Electricity for percussion quartet and electronics—an ambitious work exploring the relationship between electronic sound and live performance, released by Col Legno in 2024. The ensemble is currently collaborating with Christopher Cerrone, who composed the quartet Ode to Joy for the group, and has begun recording an album slated for release by Neuma Records in 2025. Since 2019, Blow Up Percussion has organized the concert series Cerimoniali Ritmici, featuring commissioned premieres alongside recent compositions to showcase today’s diverse musical aesthetics. The group has performed at Romaeuropa Festival, Ravenna Festival, GRAME in Lyon, MITO, MA/IN, Tempo Reale, Nuova Consonanza, Cantiere Internazionale D’Arte, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, L’Arsenale, Traiettorie, Jeans Music Festival, Contemporanea, In my Life, Le Forme del Suono, NO GO, Composit, Half-Die, Fondazione “W. Walton”, Non Luoghi Musicali, and as part of the concert season at Tor Vergata University of Rome.

Tonino Battista is the conductor of Blow Up Percussion. His background in orchestral conducting and composition provides him with a deep understanding of scores across all eras, as well as an exceptional versatility with contemporary musical languages, including electroacoustic music and improvisation. After studying piano, composition, and electronic music at the Perugia Conservatory, he studied orchestral conducting under Daniele Gatti and Péter Eötvös. In 1996, he won the conductors’ competition in Darmstadt, and Karlheinz Stockhausen counted him among his favorite interpreters. From 2000 to 2004, he served as principal conductor of the Kyoto Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and in 2016 was appointed resident conductor for contemporary music of the Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese. His discography includes an ECM release featuring works by Scodanibbio and a Wergo CD dedicated to H. W. Henze’s Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra. Since 2009, he has been principal conductor and artistic coordinator of the Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome.

Flavio Tanzi is the director of Blow Up Percussion and professor of percussion instruments at the “G. Briccialdi” Conservatory in Terni. His work centers on the research, study, and promotion of contemporary music. He is a percussionist for both PMCE and Blow Up Percussion, and has collaborated with ensembles such as Algoritmo, AlterEgo, Ars Ludi, Contempoartensemble, Le Balcon, Logos, and MDI ensemble. Tanzi has performed at major international festivals, working closely with prominent composers including Steve Reich, Giorgio Battistelli, Salvatore Sciarrino, John Luther Adams, Kaija Saariaho, Ivan Fedele, Francesco Filidei, Francesco Antonioni, Vittorio Montalti, Bryce Dessner, and Christopher Cerrone. As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Teatro Massimo, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Arena di Verona, and Teatro Petruzzelli. He has worked with conductors such as Maazel, De Burgos, Pappano, Gergiev, Temirkanov, Petrenko, Tilson Thomas, Val?uha, Chung, Nagano, and Nézet-Séguin across premier concert seasons worldwide. Additionally, he holds extensive film scoring experience, collaborating with composers Ennio Morricone, Nicola Piovani, Franco Piersanti, and Pasquale Catalano.

director Tonino Battista
percussion coordinator Flavio Tanzi

Partecipanti
Alberto Anhaus, Alberto Toccaceli, Aldo Chiarulli, Alessandro Di Giulio, Alessandro Morsuillo, Alessio Cavaliere, Alice Comparin, Antonio Gaggiano, Assunto Palazzo, Aurelio Scudetti, Cristiano Rossi, Davide Fabrizio, Davide Soro, Emanuele Trenca, Fabio Macchia, Federico Tramontana, Flavio Tanzi, Francesco Conforti, Francesco Pedrazzini, Gerardo Zarro, Gianluca Manfredonia, Gianni Santori, Giuliano Caposeno, Luca Caliciotti, Jose Espì Vicente, Lorenzo Colombo, Lorenzo Timperi, Marco De Mojà, Marco Lazzaretti, Martino Mora, Matteo Lelii, Matteo Nompenso, Matteo Rossi, Matteo Rovatti, Niccolò Fino, Pietro Pompei

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