Berio’s Sequenzas
LUCIANO BERIO
Verses written for the individual Sequenzas were written by the Italian author Edoardo Sanguineti in 1994 and 1995. In our performance, each verse will be recited before the respective Sequenza by Stefano Catalani
Sequenza I for flute (1958, rev. 1992) | Sarah Pyle, flute
Sequenza II for harp (1963) | Sophie Baird-Daniel, harp
Sequenza III for voice (1965) | Maria Männistö, soprano
Sequenza IV for piano (1965) | Cristina Valdés, piano
Sequenza VII for oboe (1969) | Bhavani Kotha, oboe
Sequenza VIII for violin (1976) | Michael Lim, violin
Sequenza IX for clarinet (1980) | Angelique Poteat, clarinet
Luciano Berio’s fourteen Sequenzas span more than forty years, an essential catalogue of twentieth century performance. Each work is an astonishing exploration of the experimental potential of modern instruments, and places Olympian demands on the performer. In this concert of seven Sequenzas, witness incredible feats of musical athleticism that push the boundaries of virtuosity and possibility.
Read the Sanguineti verses on our blog post: Here begins the sequence of sequences
Luciano Berio, 1925-2003, was one of the leading figures in the influential post-World War II generation of musicians that included Pierre Boulez, Luigi Nono, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. His fourteen Sequenze for solo instruments, along with the associated series of Chemins make up a forty-six year-long exploration of the idiomatic potential of instruments and push the boundaries of virtuosity.
Driven by a broad range of interests, especially in linguistics, anthropology, poetry, and philosophy, Berio created an expansive body of work. In his orchestral compositions, Berio explored new combinations of instruments and spatial organizations. While his marriage to soprano Cathy Berberian inspired many works that utilize unorthodox methods of harnessing the expressive capabilities of the human voice, Berio made some of his greatest innovations in the domain of musical theater. Works like Opera (1969-70/1977), La Vera Storia (1977-79), and Outis (1992-96) challenge conventional ideas of both the concert experience and musical communication.
Berio was also a pioneer of electronic music, partnering with Bruno Maderna in 1954 to create the RAI Studio di Fonologia in Milan and later directing the department of electroacoustics at IRCAM. An avid theorist and promoter of contemporary music, Berio founded the journal and concert series Incontri Musicali.
TICKETS: $25 General | $15 Seniors | $10 Students