SANDRO MUSSIDA

Artist Statement

Music, for Sandro Mussida, is an act of attention. His compositions create conditions for listening — to material, to space, to the almost imperceptible transformations of sound over time. Whether working with solo piano, chamber ensemble, electronics, or site-specific installation, the concern remains the same: how sound inhabits a place, and how a place shapes sound. His work moves between the rigour of compositional structure and the openness of the moment of performance, between the written score and what exceeds it.

“Sandro’s work invites us to be present and to listen — not even to listen for anything, but to listen with, and to continue to do so.”

— Jan Hendrickse, foreword to Albe (Canti Magnetici, 2025)

Recent Works

**Helliott** (2025-ongoing) — Solo piano live format. Commissioned by artist Remo Salvadori for his largest solo exhibition at Palazzo Reale, Milan (July–September 2025). Lead weights keep certain piano keys depressed, allowing specific resonances to sustain — taking inspiration from Salvadori’s work Nel Momento (1974). Premiered at Palazzo Reale, Milan. Performed at Feuerle Collection, Berlin; Nest, Den Haag.

“He would play a few keys, then pause. The clock was internal, each moment divorced from the last — not out of necessity but by design, when one is fully present.”

— Maya Elimelech, CLOT Magazine

Recorded by Mirco Mencacci at SAM Recording Studio, Lari (Pi). Mastered by Christoph Stickel at CS Mastering, Vienna.

**Seven Plus One** (2025) — For 7 sound sources (double bass, cello, winds, 2 voices, audio from footage, recorded pipe organ) and space, diffused through an 8-channel surround system. Performed in four acts, each with a distinct timbral identity. Composed and directed for Tutto Questo Sentire. Sala delle Cariatidi, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2 July 2025. With Olivia Salvadori, Coby Sey, Jan Hendrickse, Tom Wheatley, Rebecca Salvadori. Recorded and mixed by Lorenzo Dal Ri. 

**Corale** (2025) — For pipe organ and city postcards. Composed for the instrument of the Kölner Philharmonie. Performed by Sandro Mussida. Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, 24 April 2025.

**Sœur.s, nos forêts aussi ont des épines** (2025) — Original music composition. Text: Penda Diouf. Direction, set design, costumes: Silvia Costa. With: Dea Liane, Pauline Parigot. Composition, programming, cello and piano: Sandro Mussida. Percussion: Elio Marchesini. Production: La Comédie de Valence, Centre dramatique national Drôme-Ardèche. Premiered 7 January 2025, Valence. MC93, Paris, 5–15 February 2025.

**Like A Flood** (2025) — Original score for a film installation by Adelita Husni Bey. For pipe organ, percussion, electric and classical guitar, cellos, and electronics. Organ, cellos, acoustic guitar, digital programming: Sandro Mussida. Percussion: Elio Marchesini. Electric guitars: Alessandra Novaga. Recorded at SAM Recording Studio, Lari (Pisa), by Mirco Mencacci. Organ recorded at the church of Cerreto Guidi, Florence. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation. Sharjah Biennial, UAE, 2025.

**Albe** (2023, ongoing) — For cello, synthetic waveshapes, live electronics, webcam. A hybrid work built around the observation of a dawn through an online real-time camera system. The cello resonates with the same pitches produced by sawtooth digital waves, creating a hybrid space-time that parallels the act of observing a sunrise — both present and virtual simultaneously. Duration: approximately 22 minutes. Premiered Kunsthalle Bern, January 2023. Performed at ICA London, La Triennale di Milano, Serralves Museum Porto, Teatro Massimo Turin, Terraforma EXO, Auditorium San Fedele, and elsewhere. Published as book/score by Canti Magnetici, 2025.

**Huit (Huit — Huit Images De La Région Intérieure)** (2024) — For string quartet, modular synthesizer diffused in open space, live electronics. World premiere: Serralves Museum, Porto. Italian premiere: INNER_SPACES, Auditorium San Fedele, Milan, May 2025. Performed by Syntax Ensemble (Francesco D’Orazio, Stefano Raccagni, Yoko Morimyo, Fernando Caida Greco). The composition rewrites for string instruments the electronic material of Genius Loci.

**Still~** (2024) — With Francesco Fabris (modular synthesizers). For modular synthesizer in outdoor space. Released on Room40, October 2024. Recorded outdoors in the Highlands of Iceland, August 2022.

Selected Works

**Each Step Brings Me Home** (2025) — For 16-voice self-looping choir. Composed for Not Running (dir. Rebecca Salvadori, commissioned by Adidas). With Coby Sey and Olivia Salvadori.

**Albe** (2023, ongoing) — For cello, synthetic waveshapes, live electronics, webcam. A hybrid work built around the observation of a dawn through an online real-time camera system. Duration: approximately 22 minutes. Premiered Kunsthalle Bern, January 2023. Performed at ICA London, La Triennale di Milano, Serralves Museum Porto, Teatro Massimo Turin, Terraforma EXO, Auditorium San Fedele, and elsewhere.

**Genius Loci** (2023) — For modular synthesizers diffused in outdoor space. Composed for Nicola Ratti. Recorded by Mirco Mencacci and team at the Gerfalco quarries, Colline Metallifere, Tuscany. Sound diffusion system: Marco Verdi – Concrete Acoustics.

**Campo** (2022) — For piano and cellos ensemble. Commissioned for Norient Film Festival, Bern, 2022. Pianist: Luzius Schuler. Recorded at SAM Recording Studio, Lari, by Mirco Mencacci and Andrea Ciacchini.

**Prisma** (2021) — For electric organ and tape. Performed at Elementi festival, Aia della salina di Cervia, 22 August 2021.

**Musica Su Tre Sistemi Di Intonazione** (2017–2021) — For Electric Guitar, Bass Clarinet And Cello Samples. A series composed with only three sounds, each tuned on a different tuning system and positioning space as the primary compositional variable. EEEOOOSSS (Soave, 2019) and Rueben (Die Schachtel, 2021) both recorded at the church of San Giusto in Volterra with sound designer Mirco Mencacci.

**Ventuno Costellazioni Invisibili** (2017) — For violin, flute, clarinet, electric guitar, piano, percussion, and computers. Recorded live in studio at Officine Meccaniche Milan. Mixed by Mirco Mencacci at S.A.M, Lari mastered by Doug Henderson at Micro-Boose, Berlin, cut and pressed by Handle With Care. artwork by Mark Fell. Enrico Gabrielli (winds), Yoko Morimyo (violin), Susanne Satz (piano), Alessandra Novaga (el. guitar), Giulio Patara, Sebastiano De Gennaro (percussions), Giovanni Isgrò (computer) + Sandro Mussida (computer, conduction).

**Musica Per Due Pianoforti e Percussioni** (2017) — For two pianos one quarter tone apart and percussion. For Simone Beneventi and Ciro Longobardi. Premiered at Orto Botanico, Rome, for TQS 2017.

**Dare Voce** (2016) — With Olivia Salvadori, soprano. Musical direction, cello, electronics: Sandro Mussida. Sony Classical.

**Object Relations #1** (2015) — With Mark Fell. 7″ vinyl limited edition. Boomkat.

Tutto Questo Sentire

Co-founder of Tutto Questo Sentire (TQS) with Rebecca Salvadori and Olivia Salvadori (2014). A practice investigating the relationships between sound, image, body, and space through live performance, installation, and collaborative research. Commissions and residencies at Het HEM Amsterdam, Orto Botanico di Roma, Kölner Philharmonie, Serralves Museum Porto, ICA London, La Triennale di Milano, and elsewhere.

Collaborations

Mark Fell · CURL · Lorenzo Senni · Oren Ambarchi · Alessandra Novaga · Nicola Ratti · Coby Sey · Francesco Fabris · Olivia Salvadori · Rebecca Salvadori · London Contemporary Orchestra · Silvia Costa · Adelita Husni Bey · Elio Marchesini · Jan Hendrickse · Tom Wheatley · Mirco Mencacci

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Live

Kölner Philharmonie · Feuerle Collection Berlin · Nest Den Haag · Serralves Foundation Porto · Palazzo Reale Milano · ICA London · La Triennale di Milano · Terraforma · INNER_SPACES Auditorium San Fedele · MC93 Paris · Teatro Massimo Turin · Kunsthalle Bern · Sharjah Biennial · Shenyang Conservatory of Music · Wiener Festwochen · Café OTO London · Recontemporary Gallery Turin · Assab One Milan

Releases

Albe — Book/Score · Canti Magnetici, 2025

Still~ · Room40, 2024

Rueben · Die Schachtel, 2021

EEEOOOSSS · Soave, 2019

Ventuno Costellazioni Invisibili · Metrica / Die Schachtel, 2017

Dare Voce (with Olivia Salvadori) · Sony Classical, 2016

Focal Music 3, 4, 5a, 5b (with Mark Fell, Laura Cannell, Aby Vulliamy) · Tapeworm, 2016

Movimenti Lunari (for Alessandra Novaga) · Blume Editions

Object Relations #1 (with Mark Fell) · Boomkat, 2015

Teaching

Visiting Professor, Shenyang Conservatory of Music, China.

CPM Music Institute, Milan

Contact & Bookings

sandro.mussida@gmail.com