New music aficionados have the rare opportunity to savor a superb collection of contemporary Italian works as CalArts’ vaunted ensemble presents a two-concert survey built around compositions by Sylvano Bussotti -- one of the most aesthetically inventive provocateurs of his generation. Famed for defiantly complex syntax and unconventional graphic notation, Bussotti also has broken barriers with jaunty sensual and erotic insinuations. The program includes Bussotti’s Concerti grossi all’ara degli ulivi, for chamber ensemble, and Fragmentations, for harps; Luciano Berio’s Points on the curve to find, for piano and 22 instruments; and pieces by Ada Gentile, Carlo Alessandro Landini, Luca Lombardi, Luigi Nono and Salvatore Sciarrino.

In person: Sylvano Bussotti

Friday Program: 2.23.07
8:30 pm

Ada Gentile: Quartet for winds

Luigi Nono: Guai ai gelidi mostri for chamber ensemble and live electronics, U.S. premiere

Intermission

Ada Gentile: perviolinosolo with soloist Mark Menzies, U.S. premiere

Salvatore Sciarrino: Esplorazione del bianco II for quartet

Luca Lombardi: Schattenspiel for bass flute with soloist Rachel Rudich

Salvatore Sciarrino: Melencolia for cello and piano, Ashley Walters and Vicki Ray

Carlo A. Landini: Elegy for clarinet with soloist William Powell

Sylvano Bussotti: work tba

Saturday Program: 2.24.07
8:30 pm

Ada Gentile: Misty for flute and French horn, Rachel Rudich and Daniel Katzen

Sylvano Bussotti: Fragmentations for two harps, one player with soloist Susan Allen

Ada Gentile: Zapping for winds and strings quartet

Sylvano Bussotti: Concerti grossi all’ara degli ulivi for chamber ensemble, U.S. premiere

Intermission

Luigi Nono: Fragmente-Stille, an Diotoma, The Formalist Quartet

Luciano Berio: Points on the curve to find for piano solo and chamber ensemble with soloist Liam Viney