SPE - PERFORMANCE AND EXHIBITION SPACE

17 SEPTEMBER 2016

Tribute to Demetrio Stratos

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H 19.00   BOOK LAUNCH
Stratos e Area
by Lelli and Masotti (Arcana Edizioni, 2015)

discussion
Silvia Lelli and Robero Masotti, photographers and editors
Cristina Casero, art critic

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H 21.00   CONCERT
John Cage: Mesostic for Demetrio Stratos

Moss / Fariselli / Ceccarelli / Caggiano

PREMIERE

David Moss  voice
Patrizio Fariselli  piano and keyboards
Luigi Ceccarelli  electronics
Antonio Caggiano  percussion

Stratos e Area

Demetrio Stratos (1945-79) was a multifaceted artist: immense singer, interesting composer, fine and careful researcher, he dedicated his short life to overcoming barriers and conventions that banished the artist to sterile and restricted spaces. Transforming his glottis into a living laboratory, he succeeded in pushing his vocal research to a level previously unimaginable. In this tribute to the great artist, his androgynous voice goes beyond the rigid frameworks of masculine and feminine and is positioned in a primordial environment in which the voice, once more free of the yoke of words, has a significance in and of itself and develops its hidden potential. In his continuous and unceasing musical research that took him through various musical genres - from pop, through progressive rock, to contemporary music - Stratos found himself in contact with John Cage, one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. Listening by chance to a recording of Mesostics, Cage was so impressed by Stratos’s overflowing and powerful vocality that he suggested they should work together. The latter was invited to New York for a concert that helped to strengthen the bond between the two artists.
Unfortunately Stratos died prematurely in 1979. Cage dedicated Mesostic for Demetrio Stratos to the Greek-Cypriot singer as a token of his great esteem. This piece, together with some of his other compositions, including the well-known “Sketches”, represent the material used by the quartet, composed of David Moss, Patrizio Fariselli, Luigi Ceccarelli and Antonio Caggiano, to develop a new score premiered here.

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artistic director Antonio Caggiano