On the occasion of the 55th Festival di Nuova Consonanza, with Miroir, (2018) for six percussionists on two marimbas, Mauro Cardi returns to writing for Ars Ludi, to which a long collaboration binds him, adding another work to the cycle [Games]. The cycle consists for now of three other works: Bazzle! (2013) for piano four hands, QO (2016), for Piccolo Quartet and Toy(Piano) Stories (2020), for Toy Piano and Flute obbligato. The works of the [Games] cycle are dedicated, in various ways, to re-readings of historical musical fragments, to experiment with compositional processes, unusual notations, even with the adoption of customized graphic elements, without excluding a purely playful component in the interaction between performers and between performers and the audience. "The propensity to order a field of action, a grid of rules can be found in the writing of Cardi who, once the rules and the game have been prepared, focuses on focusing on a starting sound idea, defining its contours, bending it to expressive intentionality ". (5)
In 2019 Mauro Cardi returns to musical theater with Il Diario di Eva (GAMO International Festival, Florence), a semi-scenic work for dancer/actress, soprano and ensemble, based on a text freely taken from the homonymous story by Mark Twain. Music, as in previous works, plays on several levels, creating a dramaturgy itself: on the one hand it interprets the Edenic events with the eyes of Eve and on the other tries to read the events from the outside. And the first reflection on the score is linguistic, as well as material, through expressively strong combinations, supporting and interpreting the many facets of the restless and volcanic protagonist. In the work, the character of Eva is doubled, assuming the guise now of the dancer/actress, who uses the Italian translation of the text, now of the soprano, who is entrusted with the original English text.
Mauro Cardi currently teaches Composition and Film Composition at the Conservatory of L'Aquila and holds seminars and workshops in Italy and abroad.
His works are published by Ricordi, RAI Trade, Curci, Edipan, Ut Orpheus, Semar, Sconfinarte, Sinfonica, Taukay and recorded on Ricordi, RCA, BMG Ariola, Nuova Fonit Cetra, RAI Trade, Edipan, Stradivarius, Brilliant, Adda records. Records, Happy New Ears, Il manifesto, CNI, Taukay.
(1) Enciclopedia della Musica, Milan, Garzanti, 1996
(2) Ornella Rota, “L’alternanza di giochi e regole”, in “Suono”, N° 370
(3) Luca Conti, “Mauro Cardi: l’artigianato del comporre”, in “Idea”, Anno XXVI, N.6-7
(4) Marco Maria Gazzano (a cura di), “Edison Studio. Il Silent Film e l'Elettronica in Relazione Intermediale”, Roma, Exorma, 2014, ISBN 978-88-95688-89-3.
(5) Renzo Cresti, “Mauro Cardi, scrittura e artigianato”, in “Musica Presente”, Lucca, LIM Editore, 2019, ISBN 978-88-5543-001-2