Empty Words Percussion Ensemble

Empty Words Percussion Ensemble was founded in 2015 by Sergio Armaroli with Maurizio Ben Omar and is directed by Armaroli. It presents concerts for audiences ranging from newcomers to contemporary-music aficionados. Starting from John Cage’s early percussion works, EWPE develops new work and investigates twentieth-century percussion repertoire with a renewed sensitivity to sound and close attention to the musical text and its underlying ideas. Improvisation and invention are informed by a Fluxus-inspired creative tension, connecting twentieth-century percussion music with the future. Its members — Sergio Armaroli, Maurizio Ben Omar, Andrea Dulbecco and Elio Marchesini — trained in music performance at Cremona’s music high school and the conservatories of Genoa and Milan.

Sergio Armaroli

Sergio Armaroli, founder of Empty Words Percussion Ensemble, specialises in contemporary music and improvisation and has extensive experience in orchestral, jazz and experimental music. He brings the multiple disciplines of twenty-first-century percussion into a unified artistic practice. He graduated with full marks in painting from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and studied electronic music, jazz and percussion at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He also studied popular percussion at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba. He has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles and as a soloist in Italy and abroad, including Poland, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Mexico, Great Britain and France. His recordings have appeared on Artache, Stradivarius, Rugginenti, BMG Ricordi, Red!, ArsPublica and Dodicilune. His work also includes multimedia and performance projects and sound installations.

Maurizio Ben Omar

Maurizio Ben Omar, co-founder of Empty Words Percussion Ensemble, graduated with full marks in percussion and also studied piano and composition. He has played with leading Italian orchestras and performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania. His collaborators include Claudio Abbado, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Kees Boeke, Mario Brunello, Bruno Canino, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Jill Feldman, Andrea Lucchesini and Giuseppe Sinopoli. Composers including Bussotti, Corghi, Donatoni, Einaudi, Gorli, Manca, Mosca, Sciarrino, Pisati and Solbiati have dedicated works to him. He has taught percussion at the Genoa Conservatory, and his students have won national and international competitions. His solo recordings have appeared on Ricordi, BMG Ariola and Salabert. In 1985 he founded the percussion ensemble Naqqara.

Andrea Dulbecco

Andrea Dulbecco graduated with honours in percussion under Franco Campioni at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, where he also studied composition and graduated in piano. He specialised in vibraphone with David Friedman. He has performed as a soloist with Milan’s Angelicum Orchestra, the orchestra of the Graz Conservatory, the RAI Orchestra in Milan, the Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, O.D.A.I. (Italian String Orchestra) and the Novosibirsk Philharmonic. His chamber appearances include the Società del Quartetto, Teatro alla Scala and Società dei Concerti in Milan, Unione Musicale in Turin, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Amici della Musica in Perugia and the Accademia Chigiana. He has collaborated with Anatol Ugorski, Mario Brunello, Andrea Lucchesini, Pietro De Maria, Eliot Fisk, Giuliano Carmignola, Ennio Morricone and Giovanni Sollima. He is a longstanding member of Sentieri Selvaggi, conducted by Carlo Boccadoro, who has dedicated works to him; the ensemble has also recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Alongside his classical career, he is an active jazz vibraphonist and has toured the United States, Mexico, Africa and the Far East. He has taught percussion at the Milan Conservatory.

Elio Marchesini

After graduating with honours from the Milan Conservatory, Elio Marchesini began collaborating with leading Italian musical institutions. A winner of national and international competitions, he is a versatile musician whose repertoire extends from classical and avant-garde music to pop and music from other traditions. His approach to sound has led to collaborations with Teatro alla Scala, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra in Milan and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, as well as chamber groups including Contemporart Ensemble, the La Scala Percussion Ensemble and Naqqara. He has curated projects for art galleries and events in Milan and worked on the music of the Milanese composer Davide Mosconi. He is also a composer: his works have appeared in major concert seasons, including that of the Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra in Milan, and he writes for film, television and theatre.