THE NOVA ET VETERA COMPOSERS
Once again, I must thank Joe Schittino, Matteo Musumeci, Massimo Patti, Luciano Maria Serra and Giovanni Sollima, the composers of the pieces released in the Nova et vetera CD. Let me briefly introduce them.
Joe Schittino was born in Syracuse. He entered into the hearts of Italian people when as a child, he and his sister took part in a few episodes of a beloved Italian TV show, the Maurizio Costanzo Show. As serious, grave and apparently haughty, as he may have appeared as a child, today he is humble, witty and very open. His music is a perfect reflection of him (in my humble opinion, I’m no expert); it is deeply conscious of its history and its origins, with a tendency towards an element of surprise and a little folly.
Matteo Musumeci is from Catania, son of the actor Tuccio Musumeci. He was one of the first composers to answer my invitation to compose a piece for my CD project Nova et Vetera. We met at the bar in front of the theatre. I was very reverential towards him even though we are the same age because, for me, the “composer” status was higher than that of a simple orchestra player. I then learnt that composers are (quasi) normal people whose job is one that I would never dream of trying to tackle, it is a true feat to have to confront yourself with the entire history of Music. He has composed copiously for the theatre and is used to facing real audiences, people made of flesh and ears.
Matteo Musumeci, Mirea Zuccaro, Nicola Malagugini
Luciano Maria Serra is the most Southern composer of all, in fact he lives in Gela, even though he studied in Palermo and was born in Augusta which is halfway between Catania and Syracuse. So he isn’t too sure which bell tower to identify as his own. He is extremely Sicilian and his music couldn’t care less about clichés and labels. It becomes his extremely personal style, like the painters from Scicli, Guccione and the others, that look at the Mediterranean Sea and are content.
Mirea Zuccaro, Nicola Malagugini, Joe Schittino, Luciano Serra
Massimo Patti is a jazz musician and double bass player from Palermo. He loves paradoxes and grotesque situations, this allows him to live in Palermo and peacefully laugh off all the contradictions of his city which he loves so much that he composed a concerto which is a symphonic poem for double bass and orchestra that depicts all the splendor, anguish and weaknesses of his fellow citizens.
Giovanni Sollima certainly needs no introduction. Even more so as we sadly didn’t manage to meet in person. Below you can find the website link of this great cello player and composer from Palermo.