![MA/IN [edu] 2025 | PLAY~ Giacomo Fronzi](https://www.mainfest.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/aae0a994-3f6c-4487-8c98-ccbc58e384f1.jpg)
PLAY~ IL PERFORMATIVO IN MUSICA [vol.1]: FLUXUS E LA SVOLTA PERFORMATIVA
Conservatorio di Lecce | 2025
Whenever the word “performance” is used in the arts, it is crucial to distinguish between performance as execution and performance as creation.
In the case of music, for most of its (Western) history, it belongs to the first category, since, like theater and dance, it is a performative art that can only “exist” through being performed and interpreted.
However, particularly from the time of John Cage, the body and its interactions with the surrounding environment began to attract theoretical and practical attention, going beyond mere execution or interpretation of a score and opening up a new, unprecedented performative dimension.
When it comes to the “performative turn” in music, the Fluxus composers remain an essential reference. Their work is characterized by a constant blending of different expressive media. The members of Fluxus were driven by a desire to creatively engage with the world — its contradictions, illusions, and chaos — while always emphasizing live, performative interaction with the audience.
PLAY~ is a three-year in-depth journey into the "performative". For this first chapter [Vol. 1], Prof. Fronzi engaged in dialogue with Roberto Vetrano, Vittorio Montalti, Martin Messier, and Michele Marco Rossi.
Giacomo Fronzi is an Associate Professor of Aesthetics and Aesthetics of the Performing Arts at the University of Bari Aldo Moro. He holds degrees in Philosophy (University of Lecce) and Musicology (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), and a PhD in Ethics and Philosophical Anthropology (University of Salento, 2008). A graduate pianist from the “T. Schipa” Conservatory, he integrates philosophy, music, and aesthetics in his interdisciplinary research.
His main interests include contemporary aesthetics, philosophy of music, and Adorno’s critical theory. Author of over eighty publications — including seven books — he has edited works on electroacoustic music, aesthetic experience, and music criticism.
Fronzi has collaborated with major theaters such as Teatro Petruzzelli, San Carlo, and La Scala, contributed to Treccani’s Enciclopedia della Musica 1900–2015, and worked as a cultural broadcaster for RSI and Rai Radio3. He is also a board member of the Italian Society of Aesthetics (SIE) and actively involved in research and teaching in aesthetics and philosophy.
⊕ MA/IN academy
It is part of a comprehensive program dedicated to training and education in contemporary music on multiple levels and for various target groups. The offerings include content for a general audience, such as lecture-concerts by Luca Iavarone, who will annually delve into different periods of electronic music history from the 20th century to today. Additionally, there will be talks with artists, listening introductions, and concerts commemorating the centenaries of significant composers.
For high school music students, the program includes masterclasses with artists to introduce them to the creative process, allowing active participation in certain project activities. Students from partner Conservatories will also be involved in a training path, where they will engage with important composers to create electroacoustic compositions to be presented within the MA/IN project.
A specialized track is designed for selected young composers through an international call, offering them an advanced course for presenting their works in world premieres.
