This year’s Essential Repertoire festival kicks off with an evening of Luciano Berio’s first ten Sequenzas for solo instrument, noted for their virtuosic implementation of extended technique, performed by a generation-defining group of players in New York’s booming new music community.
Luciano Berio (1925-2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition Sinfonia for voices and orchestra and his series of numbered solo pieces titled Sequenza) and also for his pioneering work in electronic music. Luciano Berio has always looked at his Sequenzas as building blocks among his other compositions. These solo works, sometimes written for specific performers, exist as elements of other, larger works or as platforms upon which he's built extensive structures.
Featuring: Claire Chase (flute), Shelley Burgon (harp), Daisy Press (voice), Stephen Gosling (piano), Chris McIntyre (trombone) John Pickford Richards (viola), James Austin Smith (oboe), Joshua Modney (violin), Joshua Rubin (clarinet), and Gareth Flowers (trumpet).