Coro 1976-2016

October 24 marked the 91st anniversary of Luciano Berio’s birth. This year the date coincided with another important anniversary: the world première of Coro, one of the cornerstones of Berio’s oeuvre, which was performed for the first time forty years ago, on the 24th of October 1976 in Donaueschingen with the composer himself conducting the WDR Rundfunkchor and Rundfunkorchester Köln (for more information on the work click here).
We wish to celebrate this double "birthday" with a selection of documents that confirm the importance of Coro for Berio’s poetics: «The work deals with the problem perhaps more deeply rooted in me: put together, give an order to seemingly disparate things», highlighting the idea of Coro as an encounter of different cultures and periods, as a dialogue between different techniques and styles that merge without ever losing their individuality.
The homage includes the full audio track of Coro as well as excerpts from Luciano Berio’s writings and interviews; manuscript pages; and a letter from the composer to his future wife and dedicatee of the composition - Talia Pecker Berio - written during the rehearsals of the première.