Futurist Music and the First 100 Years of Noise

Thursday Mayhem 17 7:PM to 10:PM
Hosted by Pete Dixon and Anoush Ella

Futurism besieged the Italian cultural scene of the early twentieth century, advancing on a number of artistic fronts from literature to gastronomy. The movement launched scores of manifestos, including an initial treatise on music by composer Francesco Balilla Pratella in 1910. It was the painter Luigi Russolo, however, who turned his mind to sound with "The Art of Noises" (1913) and created a new Futurist music. With his uniquely engineered 'intonarumori' (noise-makers), Russolo brought the sound of noise into composition and performance. A subject of recent research publications, this special will trace Russolo's influence from Europe of a century ago to the noise heard around the world today.