Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal, born 18 November 1977 in Roma (Italy), is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.

As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli Specchi, that premiered and recorded several of his compositions. As a scientist, he does research mainly in the field of nonlinear evolution equations and in studies dealing with the onset of chaotic behaviors in dynamical systems. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Northumbria University.
Music
He was introduced as a child to ancient music and recorder which later on inspired him to pursue extensive research of Renaissance and Baroque repertoire, through the guidance of Gabriella Casularo, Marcos Volonterio (Conservatoire Populaire de Musique, Geneve, CH), John Tyson (New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, USA) and Stefano Bragetti (Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, CH). After a brief period performing recorder, in 1997 he met Carmelo Piccolo, professor at the . This meeting was a turning point for his musical career: through Piccolo, he discovered the freedom and beauty of the language of modern music and began focussing his studies in composition and piano.
A mathematician as well, he was ultimately attracted to the disciplined, highly structured and near scientific treatment of the musical material typical of many minimalist and postminimalist composers. In late 2000, with a group of young musicians devoted to contemporary music, he co-founded in Rome the ensemble Piccola Accademia degli Specchi, as a laboratory to realize his and other living composers' musical experimentation.

His works are regularly performed in Italy and major festivals dedicated to contemporary music. In September 2004, his work Quasi un tango per la neve del mattino, for soprano sax, cello and piano four-hands, was premiered at the "Festival delle Città/Estate Musicale" in Portogruaro (Venice), Italy, with Alessandro Specchi at the piano. His work Emersioni, for percussion ensemble and organ, was premiered in 2005 by the Gruppo Percussioni Trieste conducted by Fabian Perez Tedesco at the season opener of the in Trieste, Italy. His music was performed at the Contemporary Music Festival "Luigi Nono" in Trieste, Italy, in 2004 by the Piccola Accademia degli Specchi, and in 2005 by the Corale Nuovo Accordo, conducted by Andrea Mistaro. He participated in three programs of the International Contemporary Arts Festival "Postaja Topolove" (July 2004, July 2005, July 2006). His music was played at "Cantiere Musica" (July 2008), "The September Concert" (September 2009) and "Nuovi Spazi Musicali" (October 2009), under the artistic direction of Ada Gentile, where Piccola Accademia degli Specchi premiered his work La ragazza che dormiva sotto il letto.

In 2009, the festival "Bagliori d'autore" commissioned him to compose a work based on the life and writings of Victor Hugo: for this commission he wrote a piece for speaker and ensemble entitled Actes et paroles, with a text elaborated by Chiara Piola Caselli after Victor Hugo's last political speech, "Sur la Revision de la Constitution", given on 18 July 1851. The piece was premiered in Rome in November 2009 by Piccola Accademia degli Specchi featuring the composer Matthias Kadar.
In January 2012, at "Concerti e Colline", Nizza Monferrato, the two-piano team "Taglieri Genitoni Duo" performed his eight-movement suite Fibonacci's Piranhas, which makes an extensive use of the Fibonacci numbers for deriving and developing the whole melodic, rhythmic and harmonic structure of the piece.
His three-movement piano solo suite The whale's divertissement, dedicated to the Italian pianist and composer Francesco Di Fiore, has been premiered by the latter at the "LuisterLustrum Festival" at the Zeeuwse Concertzaal of Middelburg in the Netherlands in November 2012, accompanied by Valeria Di Matteo's videos and visuals. Since then, this piece has been performed by Francesco Di Fiore on several occasions, including his "China Tour 2013" (Chinese premiere) in April 2013, "Confini d'Incontro" at Villa Vigoni in Loveno di Menaggio (Italian premiere) in June 2013, and "Visual Piano" at the Capstone Theatre in Liverpool (UK premiere) in June 2015. The suite's movements (breaching, logging, flipperslapping) draw their inspiration from and are named after certain whale surfacing behaviours.

In addition to live performances of his music, his compositions have been featured on radio such as New Sounds on
WNYC,
Echoes on NPR, Concertzender in the Netherlands, Radio Classica in Italy, Ràdio Despí in Spain, and Radio Primitive in France.
He scored several documentaries and experimental short films, notably the musical short Candidamente by Ruggero Lancia (Italy 2000); the historical documentary La Resistenza nella Provincia di Roma by Michele Imperio (Italy 2006), which received the sponsorship of the Province of Rome; the documentary Macchia Madre by Simona Marziani (Italy, 2008); and the documentary A Mani Nude by Piero Pieri (Italy 2010), produced by the national broadcasting service RAI. He also scored the current European Marine Equipment Council promo video (Belgium, 2008).
Reception
His two works for chamber ensemble Counter Rotating In Vacuum and Le Ragioni Dimenticate were defined as "particularly enchanting" by the music critic Rob Haskins on the May/June issue of the American Record Guide. Reviewing his piano multi-hand suite Fibonacci's Piranhas, the Italian pianist and video-music artist Valeria Di Matteo wrote that it represents "a perfect example of how, in the context of minimal music, the two languages of music and science can balance and cooperate for the achievement of works of high artistic value".
His album The Chain Rules, featuring pianist Alessandro Stella, gathered positive international reviews: on textura, Canadian music critic Ron Schepper defined his music as "direct and melodically potent"; according to French music critic and radio dj Dionys Della Luce "Each piece accomplishes its programme with a constant delight, a rare alacrity, without affectation, served by pianist Alessandro Stella's elegance and light vivacity of touch"; Italian-Slovak artist Marco Gerbi commented "The Chain Rules is an intimate, microcosmic work, provided with great strength from the first to the last composition... Tracks like The sign of gathering or Follow it blindly are impressive and grandiose".
Science
Matteo Sommacal earned a M.Sc. in Physics at the , Italy (2002). Subsequently, he received a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, with Francesco Calogero as advisor (2005). His scientific publications in English include 16 papers (co-authored); he co-edited a special issue of Journal of Physics A. His main research concerns: the transitions from ordered to disordered motions for dynamical systems, explained
as travels on Riemann surfaces (this novel interpretation of Chaos is cited on Wolfram MathWorld Encyclopedia); the Kirchhoff elastic rod as a model for polymeric chains; the Landau-Lifshitz equation as a model for propagating magnetic droplets in ferromagnetic materials. He worked also on isochronous dynamical systems and oscillatory chemical reactions. Since 2009, he has been serving as co-chair of the organizing committee of the NEEDS International Conferences series.
Works
Orchestra
* Il circolo incantato, for unlimited amount and kinds of treble and bass instruments, with at least 6 treble instruments for each bass instrument (2004)
* Emersioni, for percussion orchestra (vibraphones, xilophones, marimbas, glockenspiels, tubular bells) and organ (2005)
* La conversione di San Paolo, for string orchestra, piano 4 hands, 2 flutes, clarinet, sax quartet and chorus (2006/2008)
Chamber
* Camera con vista sulla piscina, for piano 4 hands, cello, violin, soprano sax, flute (2000/2004)
* Il punto di Salomone, for recorder quartet (2000/2001); alt. vers. for sax quartet (2001)
* Counter rotating in vacuum, for piano 4 hands, sax quartet and 2 flutes (2000/2001); alt. vers. for piano 4 hands, cello, violin, soprano sax and flute (2002)
* Andrea, for piano 4 hands, cello, soprano sax and flute (2002)
* Nessuno ascolta il cane di ceramica, for piano, violin and flute (2002); alt. vers. for piano, soprano sax and flute (2003)
* Le ragioni dimenticate - I Movement, for piano 4 hands, cello, alto sax and piccolo (2003)
* Le ragioni dimenticate - II Movement, for piano 4 hands, cello, alto sax and flute (2003)
* In attesa del suo ritorno, for piano 4 hands, cello, violin and flute (2004/2007)
* Quasi un tango per la neve del mattino, for piano 4 hands, cello and soprano sax (2004)
* Le ragioni dimenticate - III Movement, for piano 4 hands, cello, soprano sax and flute (2009)
* La ragazza che dormiva sotto il letto, for piano 4 hands, cello, violin, soprano sax and flute (2009)
* Actes et paroles, (alt. instrumental vers.) for piano 4 hands, cello, violin, soprano sax and flute (2009)
* The sign of gathering, for piano and string quartet (2010)
* The forgotten strains, for piano and string quartet (2010)
Vocal/Choral
* La solitudine di Srecko Kosovel, for chorus, 2 clarinets (bass clarinet ad libitum) and percussions (2005)
* La coscienza di Renato Serra, for chorus (2005)
* Tellim, for recorder quartet, glockenspiel and 2 sopranos (2006)
* Lullabies, for piano 4 hands and soprano (2006/2011)
* Actes et paroles, melologue on text by C. Piola Caselli after Victor Hugo's last political speech, "Sur la Revision de la Constitution", 18 July 1851, for actor, piano 4 hands, cello, violin, soprano sax and flute (2009)
* Via Crucis - Station I (text by C. Pulsoni), for piano 4 hands, double bass, cello, violin, soprano sax, flute and chorus (2010)
Piano
* Fibonacci's piranhas, for piano 4, 5 and 6 hands (2002/2004)
* Miniatures, for piano (2007/2010)
* Exile upon Earth, for piano (2008/2010)
* In a silent crowd, for piano (2008/2010)
* The rising call, for piano (2008/2010)
* The whale's divertissement, for piano (2011)
* I buried the truth, for piano (2011)
Solo and Duo
* Maria, for piano and flute (2002)
* L'architecture du reveil, for viola and violin (2006/2007)
* Port Said, for piano and clarinet (2008)
* Follow it blindly, for piano and cello (2010)
Film and TV music
* Candidamente, by Ruggero Lancia, Italy (2002)
* La resistenza nella provincia di Roma, by Michele Imperio, Italy (2006)
* Macchia madre, by Simona Marziani, Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Italy (2008)
* , by Matteo Musso and Dario Agosta, European Marine Equipment Council, Belgium (2008)
* A mani nude, by Piero Pieri, RAI, Italy (2010)
Discography
Albums
*Candidamente, Prod: M. Sommacal, R. Lancia, M. Siccardi (IT 2002)
*MinimaMachta, Centaur Records (USA 2009)
*The Chain Rules, KHA Records (IT 2015)
*Rhythm of Silence, Belarca Records (USA 2016)
Singles
*Exile Upon Earth, KHA Records (IT 2014)
*The Sign of Gathering, KHA Records (IT 2015)
Radio Archives Online
* Relentless Minimalism - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 28 August 2009
* Fuori Circuito - Tornando A Casa, Broadcast on Radio RAI UNO, Italian National Broadcasting, 30 October 2009
* New Music from Keyboardists - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 19 March 2010
* Relentless Minimalism - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 31 July 2010
* [http://www.concertzender.nl/schedule/?date2015-02-08&month1&detail=76334 Works by Matteo Sommacal, De Kanter, Delage, Frank Martin, Joseph Marx & Bach] - Nieuw verschenen, Broadcast on Concertzender, the Netherlands, 8 February 2015
* [http://www.concertzender.nl/schedule/?date2015-02-15&month0&detail=76351 Works by Matteo Sommacal, De Kanter, Delage, Frank Martin, Joseph Marx & Bach] - Nieuw verschenen, Broadcast on Concertzender, the Netherlands, 15 February 2015
* [https://archive.org/details/Episode1118-LaOtraOrillawww.radiodespi.com Episode #1118] - La Otra Orilla, Ràdio Despí, Spain, 15 Febfruary 2015
* [http://soundcloud.com/radioclassica/top-ten-2322015-novita-della-settimana#t=32m42s "Novità della settimana"] - Top Ten, Radio Classica, 94.0 FM, Milano, Italy, 23 February 2015
* [http://www.concertzender.nl/programmagids/?date2015-03-19&month0&detail=77068 Werken van Buxtehude, Vivaldi, Sommacal, De Kanter, Delage, Martin, Marx, Bach, Pierné, Fauré, Sibelius, Lidholm, Grieg & Moniuzko] - Klassieke Muziek, Broadcast on Concertzender, the Netherlands, 19 March 2015

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