Efferent Verb Team:

Meet Dario Palermo, the winner of Voices, Vol. I, an accomplished musician devoted to the world of music. Since his early years, Dario has been focused on composing contemporary or new music, embracing both Western and non-Western styles. Driven by his unwavering curiosity, he continually researches, reflects, and hones his skills in his professional journey.

In addition to being a composer, Dario is a dedicated lecturer who enjoys sharing his knowledge on numerous subjects that influence today’s musical landscape. His expertise spans across electro-acoustic composition, technology, and musical analysis. Over the last few years, Dario has broadened his teaching scope to include music theory and acoustics.

Interviewer: How has your early interest in classical guitar shaped your musical career and influenced your approach to composition?

I started studying classical guitar, as it seemed like a direct practice: touching a string and having a very close result, a sound coming from my fingers. I don’t know if I can say that studying guitar shaped my approach to composition, but it certainly was a start in the right direction. I have never forgotten anything from those early years.

Interviewer: Can you share some experiences from working with renowned musicians like Vaclav Neumann, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Allen, and Claudio Abbado? What was it like collaborating with them?

Dario: I have played in many youth orchestras, ensembles, and chamber music groups since I was seventeen, and coming to work with huge music personalities, such as the ones mentioned, was a complete turning point. Vaclav Neumann has been an outstanding conductor who introduced me to a new level of preparation and performance: there was always room to play a section in a different modality, without questioning the score, and his conducting and ‘concertare’ was amazingly fluid and, if I may say so, unobtrusive and delicate.

Working with Thomas Allen and particularly with Christa Ludwig was a unique chance to make music with giant interpreters. I still have in my ears the complete concert that we had at the Berliner Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado was conducting, playing a whole Mahler program, and the intensity Christa Ludwig gave us all was unforgettable.

My experience with Claudio Abbado represents the turning point in my development as a musician. Abbado is one of the few, a Maestro, who really taught me music. The preparations for the concerts, the rehearsals, and finally the exhausting concerts and tours were a leap into a completely new world for me. His approach to making music was unique, and everybody who had the chance to play with him knows that he really let the instrumentalists play. He defined a musical phrase with a gesture that was, somehow, shaping the sound, very essential, delicate, and always there for you.

Interviewer: Please describe your experience studying with authoritative music pedagogues such as Pierre Boulez, Franco Donatoni, Aldo Clementi, and Gérard Grisey. How did it impact your musical style and development?

Dario: I’ve met many composers in my life, and those with whom I’ve had master classes during my studies posed questions that I would answer or explain to myself later on. I had the chance to clarify the thoughts of a few composers who, inevitably, aroused my specific interest. Pierre Boulez’s music intrigued me as a very young student, especially his early works, which provided a big push for my intellect towards unknown musical sonorities. Franco Donatoni’s thoughts were the clearest, and, in many ways, disarming, but they were by no means simplistic; his complete work represented to me an incredible level of unique style, unprecedented. In contrast, Aldo Clementi’s approach was systematic, like a chess game, fresh and engaging. Gérard Grisey’s work, as a whole, became very clear to me in an instant, knowing that his composing was not only an original stylistic path – something already complex to achieve – but it also represented a completely new perception: his work still shines as a clear light.

Interviewer: During your collaboration with Agon between 1993 and 1999, can you describe a particular project that stands out to you as memorable or significant? How did this experience shape your artistic development?

Dario: The chance to get involved with Agon at the time was a great opportunity to work with electro-acoustic and electronic devices, which were still quite far from what we know today as home studios. The second aspect for me was working with Luca Francesconi, who, as artistic director, pushed the centre and everyone in it to get the best out of what we were doing. Hundreds of projects were developed and produced at Agon: new commissions, concerts, radio works, installations, and festivals. It is not easy to single one out, but perhaps two stand out: one was Luca Francesconi’s opera, performed within an entire village (even the river and its rocks were involved) in northeastern Italy, and Travel Diaries, a multi-collaborative opera with real-time electronics that spanned two festival productions over two years. Memorable. The experiences gained in productions like these – as well as many others – substantially contributed to my own personal development, particularly strengthening my resolve to exceed any limit.

Interviewer: As you worked with Luca Francesconi as the Artistic Director at Agon, how did his guidance impact your approach to composition, especially in integrating electronic and computer technology?

Dario: When I joined Agon, I was very young, and, as I mentioned earlier, Luca Francesconi’s approach as artistic director was very strong and, unavoidably, precise. I might say that Francesconi has a similar approach in his compositions, which were in front of my eyes every day at the time. I can simply say that his work, along with that of very few other composers, was inspiring and, particularly, clarifying aesthetic aspects, which were really happening as we worked day after day. Already in 1993, for instance, the experience with acousmatic music had come to an end, and this element was already clearly evident in Francesconi’s works, which immediately helped me direct my interests and research toward something different and, perhaps, new.

Interviewer: As a musical director and conductor since 1997, what do you consider to be your proudest moment or greatest professional achievement with an ensemble or chamber group to date?

Dario: The experiences as a music director and conductor were, from the beginning, very different. As a music director, I had the responsibility of planning, organizing, and often assisting in the production of new works, whether for solo, ensemble, or, for instance, radio. My experience as a conductor started from casual needs of assisting my colleagues in the conservatoire; I often conducted small ensembles, as well as string quartets, quintets, and so on. From such experiences, I had a few chances to conduct new works, including those with electronic treatments, and my own compositions, in particular for large ensembles with real-time electronics audio and video.

Interviewer: Your compositions have been performed at prestigious events and venues around the world, such as Kings Place, Sonorities Festival, and the Venice Biennale. How do different audiences and cultural contexts impact your work in terms of interpretation and reception, and is there an event or venue in which your compositions have resonated particularly well?

Dario: It is difficult to imagine the kind of different impact my work had when performed in London compared to Venice or Mexico City. It is definitely a cultural one, but it remains very complex to define. Most of the time, it is really not possible to understand what the audience is thinking or how they are responding to the compositions. The only real difference that I have consistently noticed is the level of attention I can sense during the concert. In Mexico, it was the highest I’ve ever experienced. I have to say that most of my premieres were performed without a single problem, and most of them, if not all, sounded really good to my ears. The one that I probably remember as very particular is the premiere at the Venice Biennale Festival.

Interviewer: How has your experience working with Luciano Berio’s project for Basic Musical Literacy for children using New Technologies influenced your approach to teaching music composition and theory in the years since?

Dario: Luciano Berio had the desire to build up a project that would involve children’s musical education, and as in most of his work, something really advanced and unique. In this scenario, two centers were involved: Luciano Berio’s Tempo Reale in Florence, and Agon in Milan. The experience that I had, which went on for four years, was unique, and from many points of view contributed to shaping what would become, a bit later on, my own teaching approach. The work that we did as a double team, represented, at that time, a special laboratory or, as I like to think, a kitchen where research and experimentation led to new possible ways of teaching—composition, theory, or anything related— to a substantial high level, even in the case of children’s basic education. The results of those years were astonishing.

Interviewer: With the release of your first monographic CD, DIFFERENCE ENGINES, how would you say your compositional style has evolved over time, and what inspired you to collaborate with the Arditti String Quartet, Catherine Carter, Milo Tamez, and Jean Michel Van Schouwburg on the project?

Dario: The monographic CD includes works that have been composed at different times and in different places over the years. I can only say that I have the feeling that my work has evolved, and it is continuing to do so, with every new composition that I prepare—even when I compose more than one at a time. In particular, recently, I noticed some re-thinking concerning the involvement of electronics—new and different considerations that I would not have expected but fully accept.

The Arditti Quartet represented and still represents a fundamental and unprecedented approach to interpreting new music. Their role in music history is so deeply intense that it was more than natural for me to collaborate with them. I have had the chance to work with a great number of performers, and they are all, in different ways, unique and fundamental to my works, at particular times and places: like Milo Tamez, a marvelous rare performer with deep sensitivity. I was fortunate to have the chance to work with them all.

Contact:

Mobile:+39 339 395581

Email: dariopalermo2@outlook.com