NEWS

Started in 2010 as a collaboration between the centre DMCE (Université Paris 8), Centro Studi Luciano Berio and Fondazione Cini, the project Luciano Berio's musical theatre reached its final stage at the end of September 2013. The last two study days took place in Venice on 28 and 29 September. On the 24th of October a doctorate seminar Poetica implicita vs poetica esplicita: gli scritti di Luciano Berio took place in Siena with the participation of Fiamma Nicolodi, Antonio Prete, Veniero Rizzardi, Talia Pecker Berio, Mila De Santis and Angela Ida De Benedictis. The seminar was organized in the frame of “Pegaso”, a project of inter-regional PhD in History of Art and the Performing Arts (Universities of Florence, Pisa and Siena), in collaboration with Centro Studi Luciano Berio and with the contribution of the Department of Historical Sciences and Cultural Heritage at the University of Siena. For more information, see the attached program.

Following the tribute to Cathy Berberian on the thirtieth anniversary of her death, the Centro Studi Luciano Berio wishes to honour another major figure in the world of 20th century music, the ethnomusicologist Roberto Leydi, who died ten years ago. Hailed by Berio as his "initiator" in the universe of folk music, the friendship and collaboration with Leydi were fundamental for the composer, above all in the years of fervour and intense research in post-war Milan, which also saw the participation of a third artistic and companion and close friend, Bruno Maderna (to whom our Centre will soon pay due tribute). When called on to recall his ethnomusicologist friend following his decease, Berio wrote: «I have always known Roberto Leydi, even before I actually met him during the fifties, when we were working with Jacques Lecoq on Mimusique. Tre modi per sopportare la vita, or again with Bruno Maderna on Ritratto di città in the fledgling Studio di Fonologia della RAI in Milan. I have always known him because a part of me - I’m not sure which - seems to have been born and to have grown up with him ». Among the collaborations involving Berio and Leydi we should also mention Questo vuol dire che..., composed in 1968-69 for the Premio Italia using creative and performative modalities which at the time were truly new.

On 6 March 2013 it will be 30 years since the death of Cathy Berberian, Luciano Berio’s first wife and unique artistic partner. Her remarkably versatile voice inspired the creation of a number of Berio’s works including Thema (Omaggio a Joyce), Circles, Sequenza III, Folk Songs, Recital for Cathy and others in which creative research and performing verve are indelibly combined.

To commemorate this extraordinary woman and performer we have put on our website a previously unpublished photograph of her, generously made available by Cristina Berio, and an interview entitled Mi piace provocare il pubblico which featured in March 1972 in the magazine «Radiocorriere» catering for viewers of RAI television. The article presented the programme «Mille e una voce», the fifth installment in the television series C'è musica e musica, produced in 1972 by Luciano Berio. This whole installment was dedicated to Cathy Berberian and her matchless gifts as an interpreter, illustrated by Berio himself in a program which stands as a genuine "journey inside the human voice".