Tectonics 2022 Artist Profile
Silvia Tarozzi
Silvia Tarozzi is a violinist, improviser, composer and vocalist. Graduated in violin, chamber music and early music, her personal research on sound and instrumental gesture is expressed in the numerous artistic collaborations with composers of her time, including Pascale Criton, Éliane Radigue, Pauline Oliveros, Philip Corner, Cassandra Miller, Martin Arnold, Pierre-Yves Macé. She composes herself for her own musical projects: "Mi specchio e rifletto", her first album of songs and compositions, was released in 2020 by the American label Unseen Worlds, obtaining excellent international reviews.
She regularly performs in international concert halls and festivals in Europe, the United States, Canada and Mexico. She is the violinist of the French ensemble Dedalus, dedicated to experimental contemporary music and the partner of cellist Deborah Walker in a string duo for almost twenty years. Since 2012 she has created and directed the Piccolo Coro Angelico together with Giovanna Giovannini, a vocal and musical research choir for children born in the context of Angelica - Research Center of Bologna. She publishes for the record labels Unseen Worlds, I dischi di Angelica and New World Records
Bismillah Meets the Creator in Springtime by Cassandra Miller and Silvia Tarozzi
Bismillah Meets the Creator in Springtime is co-created by Cassandra Miller and Silvia Tarozzi. It is a concerto of sorts, the duo not above but inside the ensemble, carried as if on a full river—improvising, automatic-singing, mimicking. It is a collage which speaks to the history of our playful and joyful working methods, with much music exchanged, overlapped and transformed over years of friendship.
More specifically, it is made from a mixture of sources including a 1993 recording of Bismillah Khan performing the Raag Malkauns (mimicked and transcribed for material); The Creator has a Master Plan of Pharoah Sanders (the form of the piece, the role of the ‘band’, improvisations made while listening to this music, and the wish for peace and happiness through all the land); some Bach for good measure. The Creator (as the numerological archetype of the number 22) also accompanied much of our process and provided important keys to understanding our musical choices. An even and symmetrical number, it represents the relationship between the two composer-performers—as we left our conventional roles and led each other into our own expressive universes. And why springtime? It’s the time when rivers are most full, welcoming us (and you dear listener) to be carried on something greater than ourselves (through a-a-a-a-all the land).
The work is made possible by a Research & Creation grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, and is dedicated to Gianna and Vanessa, for their long-welcoming collaboration with each other and with the angels.
