Piccola Accademia degli Specchi (Little Academy of Mirrors) is a chamber ensemble in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, central Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. founded in late 2000 by Giovanni Rosati and Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal, born November 18, 1977 in Roma , is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli...

, specializing in the performance of contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...

, with particular attention to the so-called minimalist

Minimalist music

Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....

 and postminimalist

Postminimalism

Postminimalism is an art term coined by Robert Pincus-Witten in 1971 used in various artistic fields for work which is influenced by, or attempts to develop and go beyond, the aesthetic of minimalism...

 experiences. The instrumentation of the ensemble is similar to the common Pierrot ensemble

Pierrot ensemble

A Pierrot ensemble is a musical ensemble comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, frequently augmented by the addition of a singer or percussionist, and/or by the performers doubling on other woodwind/stringed/keyboard instruments.-History:...

 set up except that saxophone is used in place of the clarinet and often many of their works and arrangements involve piano four hands. The ensemble performs frequently at music festivals throughout Italy. In the U.S. their music has been featured on Echoes

Echoes (radio program)

Echoes is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate "living room" performances. Interview subjects have included Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel,...

(the syndicated NPR show) and New Sounds on WNYC

WNYC

WNYC is a set of call letters shared by a pair of co-owned, non-profit, public radio stations located in New York City.WNYC broadcasts on the AM band at 820 kHz, and WNYC-FM is at 93.9 MHz. Both stations are members of National Public Radio and carry distinct, but similar news/talk programs...

.

The ensemble's repertoire includes composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

s like Steve Reich

Steve Reich

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...

, Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen

Louis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...

, Erkki-Sven Tüür

Erkki-Sven Tüür

Erkki-Sven Tüür is an Estonian composer.Tüür was born in Kärdla on the Estonian island of Hiiumaa. He studied flute and percussion at the Tallinn Music School from 1976 to 1980 and composition with Jaan Rääts at the Tallinn Academy of Music and privately with Lepo Sumera from 1980 to 1984...

, Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman

Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...

, William Susman

William Susman

William Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...

, Wim Mertens

Wim Mertens

Wim Mertens is a Flemish Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.-Life and work:Mertens was born in Neerpelt, Belgium...

, Philip Glass

Philip Glass

Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...

, Max Richter

Max Richter

Max Richter is a German-born British composer.-Biography:Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus...

, Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen

Yann Tiersen is a musician from France. His musical career is split between studio albums, collaborations and film soundtracks with a distinctive sound that is always involved...

, David Lang

David Lang (composer)

David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...

, György Ligeti

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

, Graham Fitkin

Graham Fitkin

Graham Fitkin is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres...

, Karl Jenkins

Karl Jenkins

-Other works:*Adiemus: Live — live versions of Adiemus music*Palladio *Eloise *Imagined Oceans *The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace...

, Terry Riley

Terry Riley

Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...

, Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...

, John Cage

John Cage

John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...

, and Simon Jeffes

Simon Jeffes

Simon Jeffes was an English classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. He formed, and was the core performer of, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He composed the ballet Still Life at the Penguin Cafe...

. Furthermore, they have standing collaborations with many international composers, who wrote or arranged music for them, such as William Susman

William Susman

William Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...

, Matthias Kadar

Matthias Kadar

Matthias Kadar , composer, was born in Paris of Hungarian-German parents. After a short study in economics, he decided to concentrate on music and composition.-Biography:...

, Douwe Eisenga

Douwe Eisenga

Douwe Eisenga is a Dutch composer. His most known work is Requiem Aeternam 1953, composed on an occasion of the 50th North Sea flood of 1953 anniversary....

, Bruno Letort, Demetrius Spaneas and Pavel Karmanov.

Piccola Accademia degli Specchi's mission also aims to diffuse the music of contemporary and living Italian composers such as Giovanni Sollima

Giovanni Sollima

Giovanni Sollima is an Italian composer and cellist. He was born into a family of musicians and studied cello with Giovanni Perriera and composition with his father, Eliodoro Sollima, at the Conservatorio di Palermo, where he graduated with highest honors...

, Francesco Di Fiore, Irma Ravinale

Irma Ravinale

-Biography:Irma Ravinale was born in Naples, Italy. She studied composition at the Rome Conservatory of Santa Cecilia with Goffredo Petrassi, and continued her studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne, also studying piano, conducting and choral music...

, Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal, born November 18, 1977 in Roma , is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli...

, Franco Antonio Mirenzi, Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Einaudi

Ludovico Einaudi OMRI is an Italian contemporary music composer and pianist.-Biography:Born in Turin, Italy, Einaudi's mother played to him on the piano as a child. He began his musical training at the Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, gaining a diploma in composition in 1982...

, Michele Biki Panitti, Paolo Carlomè, Paolo Pagnani, Giacomo Cuticchio.

Members

Founder members include: Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal

Matteo Sommacal, born November 18, 1977 in Roma , is an Italian composer and mathematical physicist.As a composer, he has been active since 2000 writing concert and film music. Since late 2000, he has been serving as the artistic director of the Italian chamber ensemble Piccola Accademia degli...

 (Composition/Recorder), Giovanni Rosati (Piano), Assunta Cavallari (Piano), Alessandra Amorino (Flute/Piccolo), Claudia Di Pietro (Alto Saxophone/Soprano Saxophone), Donato Cedrone (Cello), Valerio Marchitelli (Violin)

Other members include: Paolo Andriotti (Cello), Kyung Mi Lee (Cello), Ilaria Calabrò (Cello), Marco Simonacci (Cello), Giacomo Grandi (Cello), Giuliano Cavaliere (Violin), Carlo Vicari (Violin), Marcello Sirignano (Violin), Giorgio Tentoni (Violin), Emanuela Sabatiello (Violin), Min Ji Kim (Soprano), Giorgia Rocca (Soprano), Mauro Conti (Flute), Matteo Laspada (Flute), Giuseppe Rossi (Piano), Erika Mazzola (Piano), Roberta Togni (Alto Sax/Soprano Sax), Walter Geromet (Alto Sax/Soprano Sax), Walter van Suijlekom (Drums/Percussions), Giuseppe Craparotta (Drums/Percussions)

Recordings

• Candidamente, Prod: M. Sommacal, R. Lancia, M. Siccardi (IT 2002)
• MinimaMachta, Centaur Records (USA 2009)
• House of Mirrors, Zefir Records (NL 2011)

Radio Archives Online

• Relentless Minimalism - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 28 August 2009
• EuroMinimalism, Part 1 - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 20 October 2009
• Fuori Circuito - Tornando A Casa, Broadcast on Radio RAI UNO, Italian National Broadcasting, 30 October 2009
• New Music from Keyboardists - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 19 March 2010
• Relentless Minimalism - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 31 July 2010
• New Music from Keyboardists - New Sounds, Broadcast on WNYC, 93.9 FM/820 AM, New York, 9 June 2011

Rankings

• MinimaMachta ranked 9th in Echoes
  Echoes (radio program)
  Echoes is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate "living room" performances. Interview subjects have included Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel,...
  
  Top 25 for September 2007.

Filmography

• Candidamente (Ruggero Lancia, 2000)
• Gabbia Aporetica (Fulvio Spagnoli, 2006)
• La Resistenza nella Provincia di Roma (Michele Imperio, 2006)
• Macchia Madre (Simona Marziani, 2008)
• me: Marine Equipment (EMEC, 2008)
• A mani nude, (Piero Pieri, 2010)