The inaugural concert opens with a strong and unequivocal statement regarding the theme of “unusual itineraries”: Split 1 by Fabio Machiavelli, performed by Alberto Anhaus, introduces the audience to an unprecedented sound and visual universe, where every element — from instrumental gestures to sound shape — is subject to reworking and transformation. The work features a curious instrumental setup: a disassembled electric guitar, a prepared electric guitar, an electrified tabletop lyre, a mobile pickup, and real-time electronics. The author writes about the piece:

“For the realization of Split 1, an electric guitar was disassembled. The disassembled components were reorganized into new objects, new instruments capable of producing and controlling sounds, some close to the original electric guitar’s sound palette, others quite distant. These new small instruments are reorganized into a setup that allows them to interact with each other, enabling their simultaneous use, just as if they were still part of an assembled electric guitar.”

The setup is completed by a prepared electric guitar, which offers a range of possibilities that the disassembly and reorganization process had precluded. From this perspective, the disassembled electric guitar and the prepared electric guitar orchestrate each other throughout the piece, maintaining a sonic coherence derived both from the common origin of the materials used (understood both as physical materials and sound materials) and from the use of common performance techniques specifically developed.
What is immediately at play here is the very notion of the musical instrument as a closed and defined entity. Machiavelli does not merely compose for existing instruments: he invents new instruments or disassembles and reinvents traditional ones, transforming them into something else. This practice — part of what is called new lutherie — combines craftsmanship, sound engineering, and compositional vision: each sound device is custom-built to meet specific expressive needs, often impossible to satisfy with conventional means. In Split 1, the performative act is no longer just execution but also physical manipulation of the sound matter. The traditional electric guitar is accompanied by a deconstructed and fragmented version: its parts — strings, pickups, resonant body — are isolated, amplified, and digitally reworked through the Max/MSP programming environment. The result is a reversal of the relationship between instrument and performer: it is no longer the instrument guiding the action, but human intervention that reorganizes and redefines an unstable sound flow, full of unpredictability. Spatialization of sound, new gestures, and the interaction between acoustic and digital contribute to generating a constantly transforming material, which questions the listener and immerses them in an immersive acoustic experience. Seamlessly, we move to This is my box, “a piece for a self-built instrument: a box, whose first use dates back to the piece Machines Inside Me from 2023. The box functions as a resonant environment for a series of vibrating bodies, including strings, wooden tongues, metal bars, various surfaces, flutes, and reeds. The instrument is equipped with electromechanical actuators controlled by the computer, which can ‘play’ it autonomously, without human intervention. The human performer and the digital system collaborate in producing and controlling the sound, sometimes performing combined instrumental techniques — that is, both acting on the same part of the instrument — and other times orchestrating each other by using different components and sections of the box.”

The second part of the evening opens up to an equally urgent narrative and political dimension, with the audiovisual proposal by Kode9 (Steve Goodman), a key figure in the British electronic scene. With Escapology, Goodman moves into a hybrid territory where sound becomes a language of escape and resistance, serving as the soundtrack of a dystopian universe called Astro-Darien: a science fiction narrative imagining the dissolution of British identity in the post-imperial space. Based on post-dubstep sounds but expanded towards a cinematic and futuristic ambient aesthetic, the composition is part of a multimedia project that also includes an audiobook – Astro-Darien – and a philosophical reflection on the relationship between technology, culture, and power. Escapology thus becomes an immersive experience, where broken beats, vocal samples, and electronic textures articulate a language of rebellion and disconnection from the oppressive logics of late technological capitalism. The pairing of Machiavelli and Kode9, though initially surprising, finds deep coherence in their shared pursuit of alternatives—sonic, structural, political. Both reject the obvious, evade norms, and construct possible worlds: one through the material reinvention of instruments, the other through dystopian imagination of radical futures. In this dual trajectory, the opening concert is conceived not only as a musical event but as a critical and performative device: an invitation to listen, see, and think beyond habit.