Music For 16 Futurist Noise Intoners

Performa is delighted to present "Music For 16 Futurist Noise Intoners," an evening-length concert of original scores and newly commissioned compositions for the intonarumori, or "noise-intoners" As part of its celebration of the 100th anniversary of Italian Futurism, the Performa 09 biennial, in collaboration with the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) and SFMOMA, has invited Luciano Chessa to direct a reconstruction project to produce accurate replicas the legendary instruments (8 noise families of 1-3 instruments each, in various registers) that Russolo built in Milan in the summer of 1913. As the first instruments capable of creating and manipulating noises through entirely mechanical processes, the intonarumori can be considered to be the original analog synthesizer, and the ancestors to the latest electronic synthesizers used today.

With Blixa Bargeld, John Butcher, Luciano Chessa, Joan La Barbara, Nick Hallett, Pauline Oliveros, Mike Patton, Anat Pick, Elliott Sharp, Ulrich Krieger, Jennifer Walshe with Tony Conrad, Ghostigital with Skuli Sverrison, Finboggi Petursson, and Casper Electronics.

Chessa will present the first modern live performances of two early Futurist pieces—the legendary fragment from Russolo's spooky "Risveglio di una città" (1913), and "La pioggia nel pineto antidannunziana," a newly-discovered 1916 piece for intonarumori and "Words in Freedom" by Futurist playwright and poet Paolo Buzzi--as well as "L'acoustique ivrese", his brand new composition for 16 intonarumori and voice on a poem also by Buzzi. An incredible group of musicians and composers from the experimental music world—including Einstuerzende Neubauten frontman and Nick Cave collaborator Blixa Bargeld, avant-garde saxophonist John Butcher, Deep Listening pioneer Pauline Oliveros, Faith No More and Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton, sound and text-based performer Anat Pick, avant-garde musician Elliott Sharp, and composer and vocalist Jennifer Walshe collaborating with composer and film/video artist Tony Conrad, among others—have been commissioned by Performa to create and perform brand new compositions for the instruments.

A Performa Commission with SFMOMA and EMPAC. Produced and presented by Performa. Curated by Luciano Chessa with Esa Nickle. Thanks to AIR, Art International Radio and the Clocktower Gallery for rehearsal spaces.