Eternal Mutations

This opening of “Mutanti”, 55th International Festival of Contemporary Music at the Biennale, is dedicated to Peter Eötvos, Hungarian composer and orchestra leader, whom will be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. Prestigious line-ups will participate in the Festival: Hermes ensemble from the Flanders, RAI’s Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale chamber ensemble, Teatro la Fenice’s string quartet, to name but a few.

Space will be given to youths, both in terms of events and educational labs in cooperation with the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory and of the biggest European centre on sound research, Parisian IRCAM. We asked director Luca Francesconi, at his fourth and last term.

Let’s talk about his four-year experience at Biennale Musica.
Managing the last four editions strengthened my respect for the public. When perceptive condition are best, they are perfectly able to judge the offer.

In art operations I strived for this to happen, breaking the walls between “high” and “low” culture set by the venues. I arranged for multiple events of various kinds at the same place, so that different and autonomous tendencies would interact with each other with no prejudice due to place or genre.

What about music-to-be?
The ideal sentiment of twentieth century music research has been superseded by commerce. A transformation is called for, musicians must become mutants and jumble up their profession with new names and meanings. We will never find out again what music is about: this is the overall meaning of the final event in this Biennale of mine. It is a tribute to authors that cross centuries of history of music and represent its living memory. A symbolic tribute that from Teatro Piccolo Arsenale will lead the public through waterways to San Michele island, where Stravinskij is buried along with fellow musicians and artists.

Is there still any desire you would want to fulfil in Venice?
I would love to start a permanent lab on perception. I believe it would be a necessary answer to current problems in music. Venice would be the perfect setting, we shall see…