The evening of October 13th features one of the most evocative moments of the entire program, pairing two musical visions that, despite rooted in deeply different cultural traditions, share a sense of spirituality and an exploratory approach to sound. The first part is entirely dedicated to A Rainbow in Curved Air, a visionary masterpiece by American composer Terry Riley, a central figure of minimalism and one of the pioneers of a new musical sensibility that emerged in the 1960s. Composed in 1967 and released in 1969, the piece is considered a foundational work not only for contemporary music but also for the development of multiple electronic, psychedelic, and ambient languages. Characterized by a cyclical, improvisational, and hypnotic flow, A Rainbow in Curved Air is a true imaginary raga: a sonic meditation inspired by Indian classical music, where pulsations, arpeggios, and melodic lines intertwine in a continuous stream capable of evoking mental landscapes and expanded states of consciousness.

For this special occasion, the work is presented in an unprecedented chamber version for eight performers—violin, cello, voice, piano, synthesizers, percussion, clarinet, and flute—created by the Syntax Ensemble and personally authorized by Terry Riley. This offers a rare opportunity to listen to this iconic composition in a new, transparent yet vibrant form that preserves its original spirit and enhances its timbral potential through the interaction between acoustic and electronic instruments. Following this, Franco-Iranian master Madjid Khaladj, one of the most renowned living interpreters of Persian musical tradition, will perform a percussion solo rooted in the ancient practice of goblet drums such as the tombak and daf. Khaladj has dedicated his life to studying and transmitting classical music of ancient Persia, integrating elements of Sufi spirituality and extraordinary expressive freedom into his research. His refined and introspective style invites deep listening: percussion becomes a narrative and ritual instrument capable of evoking primordial atmospheres and trance states through minimal gestures and sound vibrations. This dual program—intertwining the resonances of a Californian raga imagined by a Western composer with the pulsating geometries of an ancient musical tradition—represents one of the most original and symbolic paths within the Unusual Itineraries cycle. An evening that traverses reconstructed and real geographies in search of a meeting point between spirituality, sound, and vision.