Sinfonia

My work is created in memory of the numerous Arabic and African individuals who unwittingly climbed into overcrowded boats in the hope of arriving to a happier world and sank in the open sea before even reaching the Italian coast. While working on this composition, I observed the poignant images: not only the faces of individuals, but also the incredibly dense mass of people crowded together on these vessels. The images are transformed in the music into tender melodies played on solo instruments and dense masses of sound played by the whole orchestra. When I sat in front of the finished score, I had the impression that the rhythmic structure and thematic drama of the work would be suitable for choreography and would perhaps become the first ‘danced requiem’ in music history. Peter Eötvös