Claudia Jane Scroccaro
Paris
In a constant pursuit of a theatrical dramatization of sound, I am deeply interested in electronic music, music of oral tradition and, for their physical presence and sonic qualities, bass instruments. By delving into the physical connection between the musician and the large instrument, I aim to transport listeners into visually engaging compositions, where micro-rhythms and grooves hold a central role. One of my main concerns is represented by an effort to develop structures based on techniques used for sound synthesis and electronic treatments. More generically it reveals my lifelong compositional aim: that is to attain a consistency between the approach in composing for instruments as well as for electronics, an approach that I attempt to integrate and structure through computer-aided composition tools that I personally develop.
Raised in one of the "Pasolinian" working-class neighborhoods in the West side of Rome, and having spent most of my adolescence in direct contact with the street, I have always been drawn to the poetic violence of this reality. The tension between a personal inclination for introspection and a life deeply entrenched in a vibrant, yet challenging, urban environment has been a constant companion, shaping and defining my creative persona.
In my music, this tension gives rise to a dramaturgy that oscillates between two extreme temporalities, leading to a dynamic interplay between kaleidoscopic movements and introspective explorations. One is tethered to overwhelming, vertiginous, overflowing, and compulsive rhythms, while the other is more intimate, poetic, and intertwined with the expressivity of the spoken word – like in the song cycle Gradual Abruptness (2022), on the verses of the Italian poet Amelia Rosselli (daughter of the anti-fascist partisan Carlo Rosselli).
These axes of research find contrasting artistic declinations, leading to the composition of [S]toccata (2019) and High Voltage Toccata (2021), – where the pianist and organist are challenged in a body duel with the instrument – of I Sing the Body Electric (2020) – where the double bass becomes one organic body with the musician and with the electronics – in Overdrive (2020), a low-frequency trio, transposed into a distorted and paroxysmic world – or, again, in Lignes à Haute Tension (2023) for 12 spatialised cellos ¬– where the conductor, in the center of a network of instruments, controlling the trajectories of sound in space.
Ongoing Projects :
On the Edge, for 6 soloists choir and electronics
Texts by Amelia Rosselli, Sylvia Plath and Dino Campana
Premiere : SWR Vokalensemble / Donaueschinger Musiktage (Donaueschingen, DE) / 2024
Espaces Blancs, for soprano, clarinet, trumpet, double bass and electronics
Premiere : Commande d'État : Mathilde Barthelemy / Compagnie Angle Aigu / GMEM / Festival Propagations
(Marseille, FR) / 2025
Faro, for soprano, ensemble and electronics
Esemble Musikfabrik / Festival ManiFeste / IRCAM (Paris, FR) / 2025
cjscroccaro’s tracks
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