The Orchestra della Toscana, conducted by Francesco Lanzillotta, will perform the world premiere of Francesco Antonioni’s Nostro mare, five short scenes for small orchestra, on 24 September. The performance will take place at the Teatro Verdi in Florence as part of the fourth edition of the Play It! Festival.

The piece was inspired by a poem by Erri De Luca  about immigrants traversing the Mediterranean Sea (Mare Nostrum).

Antonioni explains: "In contrast with the stories that have traditionally been told about it (….), the Mediterranean sea has become a quite different place under our very eyes... It is not the task of music to establish ethical demarcations, or to make judgments on what is right or wrong… Nevertheless, music should be able to furnish a different perspective, capable of holding together contrasting and at times opposed feelings and emotions, united by strict polyphonic relations, so as to embrace the many contradictions that we are called on to face every day, the contradictions that we ourselves are."

Nostro mare
Five short scenes for small orchestra
2.2.2.2 /2.1.0.0 / Timp Perc / Strings (min. 8.6.4.4.2)
Duration: 13’