Tetraktis Percussioni

Fabrizio D’Antonio, Gianluca Saveri, Gianni Maestrucci, Leonardo Ramadori

The Tetraktys was sacred to Pythagoreans because it represents the first four numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 which represent the four elements: fire, water, wind, earth and because it resumes all the precepts according to God and his Created and it is made of 10 “monads” (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10), which form a “decade”, the basis of pythagorean decimal system.

We have chosen this name because we think that it represents in the best manner our idea of the quartet, that is not the simple sum of individual members but the creative union of skills and different musical expressions with a common artistic purpose. Moreover, our group doesn’t play only compositions for quartet but also solo pieces, duos, trios, and music for larger percussion ensembles. The basic quartet is composed of four young Italian percussionists who have all received their degrees from the Conservatory of Perugia (Italy) and gained valuable performance experience as members of leading Italian and European orchestras such as: Italian Youth Orchestra , Orchestra of the “Teatro San Carlo” (Naples), RAI Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the “Teatro alla Scala” (Milan), Orchestra of the “Teatro La Fenice” (Venice), Orchestra of the “Teatro Comunale” (Florence), Gustav Mahler Chamber Orchestra and many others. The members of the group participated to courses and stages with some of the most representative percussion artists in the world such as: G.Mortensen, D.Friedman, M.Rosen, R.Wiener, R. van Sice, D. Searcy, M.Quinn, R.Schulkosky, M. Ben Omar and others. The group won prizes in percussion and chamber music contests in Italy. TETRAKTIS-PERCUSSIONI performed mostly in Italy in every kind of musical situation, among them: “SALONE DELLA MUSICA” in Turin, Contemporary Music Festival in Iesi, a concert at the percussion exhibition “L’OMBELICO DEL MONDO” in Lecce, Festival “Luigi Nono” in Trieste, “Festival dei Due Mondi” in Spoleto. In May ‘98 performed two concerts in Germany (Kiel and Edenkoben -Karlsruhe-) gaining great success. The quartet also played live and presented its activity, CD and projects in a radio programme of the Italian national broadcasting company (RAI) During october ‘99 won a selection for young italian musicians to perform outside Italy organised by Rome’s Music Association of A.R.A.M. In November ‘99 performed in Germany again: in Tuebingen during the P.A.S. (Percussive Arts Society) Euro-Meeting 1999 and in Hamburg, Kiel and Wolfsburg (where they also had a percussion masterclass in a german-italian school) invited from the local Italian Culture Institutes. During September-October 2000, played and done masterclasses in the following Universities and colleges of the United States of America: University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech University, University of Southern Mississippi, Oberlin Conservatory (Ohio), University of Illinois, Queens College (New York), New York University. In Atlanta (Georgia) performed in three High Schools (Pope, Walton and Lassiter). In New York partecipated, playing live, to the WNYC radio programme “New Sounds” conducted by John Schaefer. In November 2000 the group performed 4 concerts in Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt), invited by the Italian Embassy. In 2001, among other, TETRAKTIS played in Istanbul (Turkey). During 2003 they performed a concert in Stockholm (Sweden) playing together with Swedish Kroumata Percussion Ensemble TETRAKTIS-PERCUSSIONI has its main purpose in contributing to the enrichment of the general percussion repertoire (almost inexistent in Italy) commissioning new music to Italian composers, among them : Carlo Boccadoro, Giovanni Sollima, Roberto Andreoni, Paolo Ugoletti, Thomas Briccetti, Tonino Battista, Fernando Sulpizi, Carlo Galante, Paolo Coggiola, Davide Zannoni, Gianluca Cangemi, Maurizio Curcio.

In 1999 the group recorded a CD containing pieces dedicated to TETRAKTIS-PERCUSSIONI, the title is “MILLENNIUM BUG” and it is produced by PH MUSIC WORX. “This CD is the interesting debut of this percussion group from Umbria -central Italy. The pieces are by Italian composers of latest trends, making this CD an original and heterogeneous one from both stylistical and timbrical points of view; it brings out the best of the multiform percussion world”. Ennio Morricone Before the end of 2005 a new CD is coming out with new pieces written for TETRAKTIS-PERCUSSIONI by young italian composers.