Opening of the 200th symphonic season of Teatro Sociale di Como, Italy January 2013

Extended chamber orchestra, 5 percussions, 3 accordions, visuals & live electronics

"The most surrealistic concert of the year"
(Vanity Fair)

“Prepare yourself to a total immersion inside the music"
(Il Giorno)

"A strong and solid music that leads to a complete success of the concert"
(Giornale della musica)  

“Yuval Avital is a volcanic experimental talent”
(La Repubblica daily”)

"A contemporary cultural concert in which any kind of public will applaud"
(Il Sole 24 Ore Domenica)

 

Sample Score

OTOT (in Hebrew signs or signals) is a poetic investigation in sound and image of the cultural mechanism of sign/signal interpretation, in which the source of the "message" is uncertain in its nature or even in its existence.

From ancient Shamanic rituals till scientific mysteries such as the WOW signal (a strong narrowband radio signal detected on August 15, 1977 by the SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of potential non-terrestrial and non-Solar System origin) humanity has been receiving, interpreting, reacting, and using unexplained signals and signs.

In a 60 minutes composition Avital observes this transversal phenomenon as a complex structural and symbolic equation, deciphering it into sound and image positioned in space. The soloists (percussions + accordions) are placed behind the public and send "objective" signals from beyond the stage (=reality). The orchestra responds and resonates these signals, sometimes in groups, sometimes as a crowd of individuals, while the video presents a highly elaborated series of images from individual and collective rituals, scripts and testimonies.

The 360° sensorial environments create a true "Total Opera" as was intended in its original epistemological sense. As written by conductor and musicologist Dario Garegnani: "From the shores of this very real microcosm (of orchestration & multimedia diffusion & projection) echoes messages as unique as is the style of composition of Avital. Without superabundance, or risking to become a catalogue of styles and languages, the composer presents a true work of art, analytical and at the same time visionary, with a strong attention to every little detail and every suggestion.”

There is no better advice to the audience than to abandon everything that can be expected from a standard "intellectualized" contemporary concert. The messages delivered by the entire artistic formation do not ask for more than to be collected in turns and to find other shores, other times, other places, other emotions, other memories and other distances.