Martino Traversa
*29 February 1960
Works by Martino Traversa
Biography
Martino Traversa started studying music as a self-taught person at the age of seven. Thereafter, he has studied piano, composition, jazz music and electronic music supported by several teachers. Graduated in Information Technology at University of Parma, he obtained a degree at the High Perfecting Academy of Pescara in piano improvisation techniques. He attended masterclasses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustic (CCRMA) of Stanford University. From 1981 to 1987 he carried out research activities at the National Research Council (CNR). From 1987 to 1989 he studied with Luigi Nono. He created and conducted the Ensemble Edgard Varèse in 1990. In 1991 he instituted the international festival of modern and contemporary music “Traiettorie”. In 2008 he constituted Fondazione Prometeo, an institution with the aim to support and promote cultural initiatives in the domain of art, music and science. In the 2011 he founded Ensemble Prometeo. In 2016 he founded the scientific journal of musicology «Nuove Musiche». He has been Professor at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy - Musicology section - of the University of Parma. Besides the activity of being a composer, he is a researcher in the field of electronic technologies applied to musical acoustics and spatialization techniques. He co-operates with the leading solo and ensemble performers of contemporary music.
POLIFONIA INTERMEDIALE. An installation of sounds, words and images.
Created with the aim of emphasizing the power of language and music to promote social and cultural integration, Polifonia Intermediale is a site-specific installation that leads the audience inside an engaging sound and visual world that offers new perceptual experiences in an extraordinary place such as the Farnese Theatre in Parma.
Starting from twelve words that represent a complete compendium of the fundamental ethical principles of mankind, questions will be raised about how culture – in particular music, words and images – can help us reflect on human destiny and contemporary tragedies and, at the same time, how it can encourage renewed feelings of inclusion, hospitality, solidarity, hope and the awareness of our deep connection with nature, for a new humanism.
The installation – placed inside the Farnese Theatre – is made of twelve sails, ephemeral structures where images and words will be projected in different languages, and of a complex 3D audio spatialisation system reproducing a multi-channel musical composition that includes a wide range of voices, sounds of nature, performing voices and fragments of Gregorian chants, transforming the space into an immersive and variable listening place, a mirror of human complexity and a metaphor for our time.
Martino Traversa
Concept and music
Michele Moreno
Architectural project
Stefano Cantadori
Technical coordination
Marco Bonilauri
Video projections
Federico Bianchi
Sound design
Luca Travaglini
Sound engineering
Josè Miguel Fernandez
Software development
Images © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos/Contrasto
Singers
Federica Cassati (alto)
Marcelo Marchetti (bass)
Sergio Martella (tenor)
Giulia Zaniboni (soprano)
Acting voices
Andreas Fischer (German)
Claudia Ricci (English)
Laura Cleri (Italian)
Massimiliano Sbarsi (French)
Manafing Oumarou Kone (malinke)
Maurizio Olivieri (Latin and Greek)
Francesca Reiko Sanada (Japanese)
Singh Jatinder (Hindi)
Josè Miguel Fernandez (Spanish)
Yaron Deutsch (Hebrew)