Ensemble

The Brake Drum Percussion was founded in 1983 by percussionist M°Pietro Bertelli who, through intense research and collaboration with composers and musicians, managed to create an ensemble able to promote and play the Contemporary Music Repertory for percussion instruments.
So far, the variable line-up of twelve percussionists and over 150 instruments, has dealt with pieces by Cage, Xenakis, Nono, Radulescu, Donatoni, Scelsi, Reich, Riley, Obst, Nishimura, Holten, Flammer, Brizzi, Scannavini, Cisternino, Centazzo, Dufourt, Correggia, Louvier any many others, performing over 50 world premieres.
The ensemble has been engaged in collaborations with various ensembles such as Mitteleuropa Orchestra - M°Andrea Centazzo, Nuove Sincronie (Milan), Octandre (Bologne), and Symphonic orchestras of Belluno, Treviso, Udine, Portenone, Vicenza and Venice.
...it is the sound that the BDP achieves from the composition that amazes and inspires enthusiasm...
Andrea Centazzo
Several have been the performances at Contemporary Music Festivals in Italy, such as Biennale Musica and Sonopolis (Venice), Computer Art Festival (Padova), Progetto Siddharta (Mestre), Settembre Musica and Festival Antidogma in Turin, Finestre Sul '900 (Treviso), Musica Verticale, Nuova Consonanza, Roma Incontra Il Mondo (Rome), Ather Forum (Ferrara), Cinema Ritrovato (Bologne), University of Pennsylvania - The Graduate School of Fine Arts, Computer Art Festival (Padova), Time Zones (Bari), Accademia Chigiana (Siena), Festival Luigi Nono (Trieste - Broadcasted live on Radio3Suite), Settant'anni di Sylvano Bussotti (Asolo), Asolo Art-Film Festival (AIAF), Festival Cinema Muto (Pordenone), and Europe: Expo'92 (Seville - SPA), Auditorium Nacional, Libera Universidad de Madrid (Madrid - SPA), Lucero Festival (Paris - FRA), Les Semaines Musicales Internationales d'Orleans (FRA), Staadtische Museum (Heilbronn - GER), Recording and broadcasting for the SWR Sudwestrundfunk (GER), Sonic Fusion Festival (Edinburgh - UK).
Among the recorded albums, the 1995 with Pléiades by Iannis Xenakis and Akira Nishimura's Ketiak and 1999 Percussioni d'Italia entirely dedicated to Italian composers - Scelsi, Correggia, Donatoni, Giommoni, Cisternino, with extremely positive comments from the critics.
The BDP has never neglected the didactic activities. An innovative concert-lesson project is promoted each and every year and is aimed to sensitise primary and secondary school students to the universe of Percussion Music.