Ars Discantica (I)

Ars Discantica is an electronic music duo formed by Massimo Colombo and Antonio Pileggi, active within the projects of San Fedele Musica and the Inner_Spaces series. The duo was founded with the aim of exploring the relationship between art, faith, and sound technology, developing works that intertwine experimental electronics, sound spatialization, and references to sacred tradition, in continuity with the original vocation of the San Fedele Cultural Center in Milan: fostering dialogue between art and spirituality.

Among their most significant realizations are Mottetto elettronico (2023), presented in the Church of San Fedele, a quadraphonic work based on frequency‑modulated synthesis and pure sinusoidal tones, structured around four independent voices diffused through separate loudspeakers to create a complex harmonic fabric and an immersive experience within the sacred space; Hieremias Propheta (2024), a project created with Nicolás Jaar in which Ars Discantica contributed the electronic component to a performance blending contemporary music and spirituality; and Laus Angelorum (2024), a collaboration with organist Alessandro La Ciacera and Christian Fennesz, where the duo curated the live electronics in dialogue with the organ and electric guitar in a sacred representation dedicated to the figure of angels and their symbolic presence in Baroque architecture.

Colombo and Pileggi’s work is distinguished by their ability to integrate electronics with architectural space, taking into account the acoustic characteristics of environments such as the Church of San Fedele, a sacred space for Catholic liturgy with a long reverberation. Their aesthetic moves between electronic experimentation, timbral research, and sacred representation, with a particular interest in quadraphony and the use of pure tones and complex modulations. Ars Discantica is a project that unites electronic experimentation with the sacred dimension, pursuing an original and coherent artistic path that has already found a place in international collaborations and in the seasons of Inner_Spaces.