Blow Up Percussion is an ensemble of percussionists founded 2012 in Rome. On the one hand it interprets the modern and contemporary repertoire, on the other itoffers innovations born from collaborations with composers, groups and musicians of different origins.
Among the collaborations: the composers F. Filidei, V. Montalti, B.Dessner, C. Cerrone, L.Durupt, F.Antonioni, M. Tadini, E.Nathan; the ensembles PMCE and Prometeo, the London duo Plaid, the cellist Mario Brunello. From the twentieth century repertoire, the ensemble is characterized by the interpretation of the works of Steve Reich and the post-minimalists David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and John Luther Adams. In 2017 the first album was released with compositions by Ravera, Filidei, Taglietti, Sanna and Marchettini, in 2020 a monographic work on the young American composer Elliot Cole, both for EMA Vinci Record.
With Vittorio Montalti he created The Smell of Blue Electricity for percussion quartet and electronics, a long-term work on the relationship between electronics and performers. The album of this piece was released by Col Legno in 2023.
Since 2019, Blow Up has also organized the Cerimoniali Ritmici presentation where the ensemble together with other musicians showcases various novelties commissioned for the occasion together with works from recent years, opening up an overview of the different musical aesthetics of our time.
The group performed at the RomaEuropa Festival, Ravenna Festival, GRAME Lyon, MITO, MA/IN, Tempo Reale, Nuova Consonanza, Cantiere Internazionale D’Arte, Accademia Filarmonica Romana, L’Arsenale, Traiettorie, Jeans Music Festival, Contemporanea, In my Life, Le Forme del Suono, NO GO, Composit, Half-Die, Fondazione W. Walton, Non Luoghi Musicali, and the concert season of the University of Tor Vergata.
Photo: Monkeys Video Lab
Hans Thomalla is a German American composer living in Chicago and Berlin. A particular focus of his work lies in music for the stage. He has written four operas, Fremd (Stuttgart Opera 2011), Kaspar Hauser (Freiburg and Augsburg Opera 2016), Dark Spring, and Dark Fall (both Mannheim Opera 2020 and 2024).
Hans Thomalla is the Helen A. Regenstein Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago. He studied at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule and received his doctoral degree in composition from Stanford University. From 1999-2002 he was Assistant Dramaturge and Musical Advisor at the Stuttgart Opera. He has been associated with the Darmstädter Ferienkurse for a long time, where he has served for many years on the composition faculty.
He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis, the Composer Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, the Christoph Delz Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. During the academic year 2014/15 he was a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin and in 2024/25 a German Rome Prize Fellow at the Villa Massimo in Rome. He has written music for numerous ensembles and soloists, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Münchener Philharmoniker, SWR- and SR-Radiosinfonieorchester, The Crossing, Talea, ICE, Ensemble Modern, Musikfabrik, Ensemble Recherche, Arditti Quartet, Spektral Quartet, Nicolas Hodges, Irvine Arditti, Sarah Sun, and many others. His operas have been commissioned by the Stuttgart Opera, Freiburg Opera, Augsburg Opera, and the Nationaltheater Mannheim.
Hans Thomalla is the co-founder of the Chicago based record label Sideband Records. He appears as a character in Alexander Kluge’s story collection "Anyone Who Utters a Consoling Word Is a Traitor: 48 Stories for Fritz Bauer".
Photo: Ilja Mess