The 2022 lion awards for music

Composer Giorgio Battistelli, one of the most renowned names in Italy and abroad, is the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Music “for his work in experimental musical theatre and his intense operatic production, staged by the most important European institutions”; whereas the Ars Ludi ensemble, consisting of three exceptional percussionists ­– Antonio Caggiano, Rodolfo Rossi and Gianluca Ruggeri – has been awarded the Silver Lion in Music “for its performing virtuosity and capacity to transform the world of percussion into a compelling Machina Mundi”.

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, accepting the recommendation by Lucia Ronchetti, Director of the Music Department, who has titled the 66^th International Festival of Contemporary Music, to be held in Venice from September 14^th to 25^th 2022, Out of Stage, dedicated to new forms of experimental musical theatre.

GIORGIO BATTISTELLI

“Giorgio Battistelli’s long and celebrated career began in the 1960s with projects for experimental theatre that have become emblematic and foundational for musical research within the context of sound theatricalisation and the theatricality of the performing gesture. Such as Experimentum Mundi,  composed in 1981, a work of imaginative music for one actor, eight natural voices of women, sixteen tradesmen and a percussionist, which to this day has been performed 400 times in Europe, Asia, Oceania and North America and is considered a cornerstone of instrumental musical theatre; Jules Verne composed in 1987, a chamber fantasy in the form of a performance for a trio of percussions, three voices, trumpet and piano, and Orazi e Curiazi composed in 1996 for two percussionists” (from the motivation for the award).

Further information in the press release to download