EARTH: Margherita Berlanda, accordion
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Event Date: Oct 20, 2026 - Dec 20, 2026
Event Time: 8:00 pm
Location: Studio 3 - TV Koper-Capodistria
Price: 0
Co-organized with TV Koper-Capodistria
ALL THINGS ON EARTH - MARGHERITA BERLANDA, accordion
programme host: Luisa Antoni
"The earth is also sound, guided by sound and so are all things of the earth." — Pauline Oliveros
The program conceptually draws on Pauline Oliveros, in the sense that music invites us to a different way of listening, to discovery... As she herself puts it, it is a world of sounds. The pieces reflect this: they are composed of stories about objects, animal instinctual impulses, or plants and nature—essentially everything that creates life on Earth. These are pieces to which I am deeply attached because they combine acoustics and electronics. They came to life thanks to a close collaboration with various composers.
PROGRAM
Manuela Kerer (1980): In the Depths of My Being (2022–2025) for accordion and tape
Samir Odeh-Tamimi (1970): TSLALIM / SHADOW for solo accordion
Hannes Kerschbamer (1981): trieb (2026) for a singing accordionist
Anna Sowa (1987): minimalANIMAL I and II (2025) for accordion, reeds, electronics, and movement
Manuela Kerer: In the Depths of My Being
"Some time ago, an old hemp climbing rope that belonged to my late father came into my hands. I was captivated by its grip, its texture, and its scent. I wondered what all that rope had experienced. My father lost friends on the rock face—was this rope there too? What else had it lived through?
Why did musical ideas instantly arise in me? I have tried climbing myself and I enjoy it, but I don’t feel that 'intoxication' that many describe. Perhaps that is why climbers fascinate me so much: the willpower, despair, extraordinary feelings of happiness, obstacles that seem insurmountable, extreme exertion, and death and life—so close to one another. In this piece, I let the music moan, dance, sing, and breathe. These sounds become the starting point for a theatrical and spatial composition in which the musician becomes a performer. The piece is an imaginary balancing act that can represent many things in our lives. It poses great technical challenges for the performer, who must also grapple with elements of movement and the use of her own voice. The visual dimension and the hybrid role of the musician that stems from it become the key to the inner narrative, while the rope stretched across the floor serves as a symbol of balance, which plays a decisive role for each of us. The work 'In The Depths Of My Being' was created in close collaboration and constant dialogue with Margherita Berlanda, whom I sincerely thank for this incredible sound journey!" (M. Kerer)
Samir Odeh-Tamimi: TSLALIM
"In Samir Odeh-Tamimi’s 'TSLALIM', highly expressive figures of exceptional plasticity alternate with moments of relaxation, evoking the painting technique of chiaroscuro. After all, in Arabic, 'Tslalim' translates precisely to 'shadows'. Tamimi creates a rich and dynamic sonic world."
Hannes Kerschbamer — trieb
Commissioned by Margherita Berlanda, this piece was created with the support of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano. Here, composition, voice, body, and instrument enter into a relationship of mutual creation: the work seems to spring directly from the unique capabilities of the performer and her accordion. The title refers to processes of growth and emergence inherent to nature. However, the German word trieb means more than just botanical movement: it signifies an impulse and a driving force, a desire and an inner necessity—a force seeking form without yet knowing its destination. From a few basic lines, new branchings, thickenings, and entanglements continuously emerge. The voice is not merely a simple complement to the instrument; instead, it becomes the central structural principle: the origin, resistance, and direction of music revealing itself in its own creation.
Anna Sowa: minimalANIMAL I and II
"In minimalANIMAL I–II, I create a dialogue between the accordion and electronics, highlighting sound elements and trance-like rhythms inspired primarily by animal calls. The electronics integrated into the composition give the work even greater sonic coherence and multi-dimensionality. In my compositions, I also pay attention to movement and the performative aspects of music—elements that will certainly not be lacking in this piece." (A. Sowa)
About the Performer
Margherita Berlanda is one of Italy's most prominent and versatile accordionists, deeply dedicated to research in the field of contemporary music. Her desire to explore various aesthetic and artistic expressions—marked by a strong performative presence—plays a central role in her personal investigation of contemporary music. Her orientation toward contemporary arts leads her to active collaborations with numerous composers, such as Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Nikolaus Brass, Mikel Urquiza, Manuela Kerer, Anna Sowa, Farzia Fallah, Anda Kryeziu, Marco Momi, Sidney Corbett, Mauro Lanza, and Manos Tsangaris. She has performed at internationally renowned festivals and institutions, including the Transart Festival, Milano Musica, Donaueschinger Musiktage, and the Rondò Festival. She also collaborates with the Haydn Foundation (Stiftung) – OPER.A 20.21 Festival and the Divertimento Ensemble in Milan. Some of her performances have been broadcast on Radio Tre, Radio Svizzera Italiana, Radio Vaticana, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and RAI Slovenia, and recorded for labels such as Stradivarius, EMA Vinci, and Da Vinci. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the contemporary arts space Anomalia (Trento).
"Margherita Berlanda is an incredible sound artist who not only knows her accordion inside out from a technical perspective, but also seems to regularly gaze straight into its soul... It is no coincidence that Margherita named her new project 'Beyond/Oltre'."
"Some time ago, an old hemp climbing rope that belonged to my late father came into my hands. I was captivated by its grip, its texture, and its scent. I wondered what all that rope had experienced. My father lost friends on the rock face—was this rope there too? What else had it lived through?
Why did musical ideas instantly arise in me? I have tried climbing myself and I enjoy it, but I don’t feel that 'intoxication' that many describe. Perhaps that is why climbers fascinate me so much: the willpower, despair, extraordinary feelings of happiness, obstacles that seem insurmountable, extreme exertion, and death and life—so close to one another. In this piece, I let the music moan, dance, sing, and breathe. These sounds become the starting point for a theatrical and spatial composition in which the musician becomes a performer. The piece is an imaginary balancing act that can represent many things in our lives. It poses great technical challenges for the performer, who must also grapple with elements of movement and the use of her own voice. The visual dimension and the hybrid role of the musician that stems from it become the key to the inner narrative, while the rope stretched across the floor serves as a symbol of balance, which plays a decisive role for each of us. The work 'In The Depths Of My Being' was created in close collaboration and constant dialogue with Margherita Berlanda, whom I sincerely thank for this incredible sound journey!" (M. Kerer)
Samir Odeh-Tamimi: TSLALIM
"In Samir Odeh-Tamimi’s 'TSLALIM', highly expressive figures of exceptional plasticity alternate with moments of relaxation, evoking the painting technique of chiaroscuro. After all, in Arabic, 'Tslalim' translates precisely to 'shadows'. Tamimi creates a rich and dynamic sonic world."
Hannes Kerschbamer — trieb
Commissioned by Margherita Berlanda, this piece was created with the support of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano. Here, composition, voice, body, and instrument enter into a relationship of mutual creation: the work seems to spring directly from the unique capabilities of the performer and her accordion. The title refers to processes of growth and emergence inherent to nature. However, the German word trieb means more than just botanical movement: it signifies an impulse and a driving force, a desire and an inner necessity—a force seeking form without yet knowing its destination. From a few basic lines, new branchings, thickenings, and entanglements continuously emerge. The voice is not merely a simple complement to the instrument; instead, it becomes the central structural principle: the origin, resistance, and direction of music revealing itself in its own creation.
Anna Sowa: minimalANIMAL I and II
"In minimalANIMAL I–II, I create a dialogue between the accordion and electronics, highlighting sound elements and trance-like rhythms inspired primarily by animal calls. The electronics integrated into the composition give the work even greater sonic coherence and multi-dimensionality. In my compositions, I also pay attention to movement and the performative aspects of music—elements that will certainly not be lacking in this piece." (A. Sowa)
About the Performer
Margherita Berlanda is one of Italy's most prominent and versatile accordionists, deeply dedicated to research in the field of contemporary music. Her desire to explore various aesthetic and artistic expressions—marked by a strong performative presence—plays a central role in her personal investigation of contemporary music. Her orientation toward contemporary arts leads her to active collaborations with numerous composers, such as Samir Odeh-Tamimi, Nikolaus Brass, Mikel Urquiza, Manuela Kerer, Anna Sowa, Farzia Fallah, Anda Kryeziu, Marco Momi, Sidney Corbett, Mauro Lanza, and Manos Tsangaris. She has performed at internationally renowned festivals and institutions, including the Transart Festival, Milano Musica, Donaueschinger Musiktage, and the Rondò Festival. She also collaborates with the Haydn Foundation (Stiftung) – OPER.A 20.21 Festival and the Divertimento Ensemble in Milan. Some of her performances have been broadcast on Radio Tre, Radio Svizzera Italiana, Radio Vaticana, Bayerischer Rundfunk, and RAI Slovenia, and recorded for labels such as Stradivarius, EMA Vinci, and Da Vinci. She is a co-founder and coordinator of the contemporary arts space Anomalia (Trento).
"Margherita Berlanda is an incredible sound artist who not only knows her accordion inside out from a technical perspective, but also seems to regularly gaze straight into its soul... It is no coincidence that Margherita named her new project 'Beyond/Oltre'."