Ensemble

MUSICA20 was founded by the musicians Rocco Carbonara, Patrizia Rebizzi, Andrea Saccarola, Emilio Vapi and Mauro Bonifacio (permanent director), who form the central nucleus of the ensemble. But MUSICA20 also appears with forces of varying sizes in order to perform chamber works and pieces that require a larger instrumental and vocal complement. Thanks to a long experience of playing works requiring electronic material (live and pre-recorded), MUSICA20 is also perfectly equipped to expand the traditional instrumentation and propose programmes that include sound spatialization and more complex resources. MUSICA20 made its debut in 1994 at Lanciano during the Estate Musicale Frentana with a concert dedicated to the historic avant-garde. It subsequently took part in the leading Italian festivals, to unanimous acclaim. Among other things it performed the world premiere of the collective work Le pietre e l'orizzonte (Genova, 1 st Biennale Musica e Architettura Spazio-Suono 1994). For the cycle Musica per la Resistenza it proposed first performances of Mauro Cardi, Sergio Lanza, Dario Maggi, Gabriele Manca, Giacomo Manzoni, Ennio Morricone, Fabio Vacchi (Milano, Teatro alla Scala 1995 - Roma, Acquario Romano 1995). It has presented concert-portraits dedicated to Fabio Vacchi (Milano, Piccolo Teatro Studio, Milano Musica 1995 – Milano, Civica Scuola di Musica 1997 - Torino, Conservatorio di musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi', Associazione De Sono 1997), Luca Francesconi (Milano, Teatro dell'Arte, Milano Musica 1997) ed Azio Corghi (Roma, Accademia Filarmonica Romana e Milano, Civica Scuola di Musica 1999). In 1998 it performed Alessandro Melchiorre's opera Unreported inbound Palermo, co-produced by the Teatro Comunale of Bologna and Pocket Opera Nürnberg. In Milan, for Milano Musica - Festival Kurtag, it gave the world premiere of six works by contemporary composers (Ivan Fedele, Adriano Guarnieri, Fabio Nieder, Francesco Pennisi, Alessandro Solbiati, Fabio Vacchi). Again in 1998 it was invited to the Università La Sapienza of Rome to give a concert for the conference on Musical Cognition and Behaviour. For Euromusica - Festival Ritorni it gave two concerts devoted to works by Bruno Maderna, Luciano Berio and Gianfrancesco Malipiero written in the years 1954-1966 (Venezia, Teatro Fondamenta Nuove; Asolo, Teatro dei Rinnovati). The ensemble has regularly appeared in radio and television broadcasts (RAI-TV: Radio 3, TV 3; RTS; TELE+). A forthcoming CD (for Bmg-Ricordi) is entirely devoted to the works of Azio Corghi. MUSICA20 has already made a (live) recording of Dai Calanchi di Sabbiuno and Flow my Dowland by Fabio Vacchi for the CD Bmg-Ricordi, CRMCD 358212 (1996). The musicians of MUSICA20 have published works on the performing techniques of contemporary music and have held seminars on these subjects at specialized schools and institutions. The ensemble has also given courses and lecture-recitals for various composers at the Accademia Musicale of Lanciano (1994, guests of Giacomo Manzoni's course), the Accademia Musicale dell'Emilia Romagna (1995, Fondazione Toscanini, for the composition course of Azio Corghi), the Festival Regola Gioco (1999, Milan, Agon) and the Conservatorio di Musica ‘G. Verdi' of Milan (2000, DMC-Dipartimento di Musica Contemporanea and DIM-Dipartimento di Informatica Musicale). Further engagements are at present being negotiated. Among those who collaborate with MUSICA20 are the soloists Antonio Ballista, Gabriele Cassone, Eva Kuhrau, Marco Lazzara, Michele Lomuto, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, Marco Rizzi, il Trio di Parma, Ottavia Piccolo and, in connection with projects using electronic material, the composers of the AGON group of Milan.

Concerts
1994 Lanciano Teatro Romano Estate Musicale Frentana
1994 Genova Cisterne di S. Maria di Castello Biennale Musica e Architettura
1995 Parma Conservatorio di Musica ‘Arrigo Boito' Amici del Conservatorio 1995 Milano Ridotto del Teatro alla Scala Musica per la Resistenza
1995 Milano Piccolo Teatro Studio Festival Percorsi di Musica d'Oggi 1995 Vasto Teatro di Vasto Musica Presenze
1995 Roma Acquario Romano Musica Presenze
1996 Livorno Teatro dell'Accademia Navale Musica Presente
1996 Milano Piccolo Teatro Studio Festival Regola Gioco
1997 Torino Conservatorio di Musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi' Associazione De Sono
1997 Milano Teatro dell'Arte Festival Percorsi di Musica d'Oggi
1997 Milano Auditorium della Civica Scuola di Musica Concertidella SMC
1998 Roma Università La Sapienza Musical Cognition and Behaviour 1998 BolognaTeatro Comunale
1998 Milano Teatro dell'Arte Milano Musica - Festival Kurtág
1998 Missaglia Festival Europa Musica
1998 Venezia Teatro Fondamenta Nuove Ritorni
1998 Asolo Teatro dei Rinnovati Ritorni
1999 Messina Sala Laudamo I Concerti dell'Ateneo Messinese
1999 MilanoAuditorium della Civica Scuola di Musica Concerti della SMC
1999 Roma Accademia Filarmonica Romana, Sala Casella
1999 Aosta Atelier ‘900
1999 Milano Palazzo Reale Festival Regola Gioco.

Discography - videos
Fabio Vacchi Dai Calanchi di Sabbiuno Flow my Dowland BMG-RICORDI CRMCD 358212 (1996)
Speciale su Fabio Vacchi apparso su TELE+
Azio Corghi CD monografico BMG-RICORDI di prossima uscita (2000)

Radio and television
RAI-Radio Televisione Italiana RAI 3, TV 3 RTS-Radio Televisione Svizzera TELE+

Guest artists - collaborations
Antonio Ballista, Gabriele Cassone, Eva Kuhrau, Marco Lazzara, Michele Lomuto, Donatienne Michel-Dansac, Marco Rizzi, Sonia Sigurtà, il Trio di Parma, Ottavia Piccolo, AGON.

Composers performed
Abbate, Aralla, Arcaro, Berio, Brouwer, Burkhard, Cardi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ceccarelli, Colombo Taccani, Corghi, Debussy, De Falla, Demillac, Fedele, Francesconi, Franczix, Gatti, Gentilucci, Ghezzi, Guarnieri, Henze, Jolivet, Lanza, Ligeti, Lindberg, Maderna, Maggi, Malipiero, Manca, Manzoni, Melchiorre, Messiaen, de Millao, Morricone, Nieder, Pennisi, Petrassi, Piazzolla, Poulenc, Pousseur, Ravel, Sciarrino, Solbiati, Stockhausen, Stravinskij, Tadini, Vacchi, Viel, Villa-Lobos.