The project is an immersive musical journey unfolding across two spaces—the Galleria delle Vasche and Sala T2—transforming listening into a continuously shifting experience. The performances are conceived as parts of a single flow: the audience’s movement becomes an integral element of both the musical form and the dramaturgy of the event.
The experience begins in the Galleria delle Vasche with Pendulum Music, presented as an installation-performance that establishes a relationship between sound, space, and process. At its conclusion, the audience is guided toward Sala T2 through a performance of Clapping Music, turning the transition itself into a performative gesture.
Inside Sala T2, the core of the project unfolds: Mallet Quartet, Music for Pieces of Wood, Marimba Phase, and Drumming – Part I construct a progression of increasing rhythmic and timbral intensity, alternating stratification, phase shifting, and collective rhythmic structures. The audience then returns to the Galleria delle Vasche, where the tape playback of Come Out closes the journey in a suspended, reflective listening dimension.
Programme:
Galleria delle Vasche
- Pendulum Music – 8/9’
Pathway to Sala T2
2. Clapping Music – 3/4’
Sala T2
3. Mallet Quartet – approx. 17’
4. Music for Pieces of Wood – approx. 15’
5. Marimba Phase – approx. 20’
6. Drumming – Part I – 17’
Return to Galleria delle Vasche
7. Come Out (tape) – 12/13’
Blow Up Percussion is a percussion ensemble founded in Rome in 2012. On one hand, it performs modern and contemporary repertoire; on the other, it develops new works born from collaborations with composers, ensembles, and musicians from diverse backgrounds. Its collaborations include composers such as F. Filidei, V. Montalti, B. Dessner, C. Cerrone, L. Durupt, F. Antonioni, M. Tadini, and E. Nathan; ensembles such as PMCE and Ensemble Prometeo; the London duo Plaid; and cellist Mario Brunello. Within 20th-century repertoire, the ensemble has distinguished itself through performances of works by Steve Reich and post-minimalist composers such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and John Luther Adams.
In 2017, Blow Up Percussion released its first album featuring works by Ravera, Filidei, Taglietti, Sanna, and Marchettini (EMA Vinci Records). In 2020, it released a monographic album dedicated to the young American composer Elliot Cole, also for EMA Vinci Records. Together with Vittorio Montalti, the ensemble created The Smell of Blue Electricity for percussion quartet and electronics, a large-scale work exploring the relationship between electronics and performers; the album was released by Col Legno in 2023.
Since 2019, Blow Up Percussion has curated the festival “Cerimoniali Ritmici,” presenting newly commissioned works alongside recent repertoire, offering a window onto contemporary musical aesthetics. The ensemble has performed at festivals including Romaeuropa Festival, Ravenna Festival, GRAME 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 the University of Rome Tor Vergata concert season.
