My Portfolio: Andrea Ruocco - Composer

Portfolio

My work as an improviser and composer began simultaneously, around 2009. As my practice developed, I gradually became more conscious of the differences between these two processes. Although improvisation and composition often draw on the same techniques and musical language, they tend to diverge in their relationship to time, form, and the degree of awareness involved in shaping structure.
This tension and dialogue between spontaneity and premeditation continues to inform my compositional practice.

Introduction

The portfolio consists of video recordings documenting a selection of my compositions. These works reflect key stages of my artistic development. In most cases, I am involved as a performer, either solo or within ensemble contexts. Each work explores different balances between composed material and performative freedom.

Piogge

Year: 2025
Instrumentation: Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello
Context: Ensemble MDI, project with Conservatorio F. A. Bonporti, Trento
Relationship to Improvisation: Based on a piano improvisation after a meditation session, reflecting a personal experience in Copenhagen in 2016

Piogge is a composition that evokes a very specific place and time. In 2016, I observed the Copenhagen landscape from Alessandro Ambrosi’s room. Outside, it was cold, rainy, and windy; the city carried a distinctive scent, and the air seemed filled with a sharp, cutting music. During this period, I met Søren Kjærgaard, jazz instructor at the Rytmisk Conservatory. Following a meditation session, I recorded a piano improvisation to capture, in sound and music, the landscape, the images, and the emotions of that moment.

Writing for an expanded ensemble allowed me to revisit and deepen these states of mind, transforming the original improvisational material into a structured composition in which each element is given space and significance.

The work was recorded at the F.A. Bonporti Conservatory of Music, Trento campus, during the Composition Masterclass (2024/25) led by Ensemble MDI on May 20, 2025. Recording was produced by the Conservatory; mixing and mastering by Andrea Ruocco.

Performers:
Corinna Canzian – violin
Paolo Fumagalli – viola
Giorgio Casati – cello
Luca Ieracitano – piano

Invenzione n. 12

Year: 2025
Instrumentation: Piano solo
Context: Graduation concert
Relationship to Improvisation: While the piece draws on materials and clichés from jazz, it does not involve direct improvisation

Invenzione n. 12 is a piano composition dedicated to Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942), a composer and improviser whom I deeply admire. Schulhoff’s work exemplifies the integration of Afro-American musical idioms with avant-garde techniques and Central European folk traditions, creating a dynamic dialogue across musical worlds. This piece reflects my engagement with some of those same ideas, filtered through my own compositional voice.

Performer:
Antonio Vicentini – piano

Credits:
Thumbnail image: Woodcut by Conrad Felixmüller portraying the composer Erwin Schulhoff, Prague, 1924. Lindenau Museum, Altenburg; VG Bild-Kunst. © Leo Baeck Institute

Joula – Saha Maalem

Field recording, audio–video composition (2025)

Joula – Saha Maalem is an audio and visual field-recording project developed during a journey to Morocco in September 2025, between Marrakech and Essaouira. More than a single track, the work functions as a sonic diary—a personal document that preserves places, encounters, and temporal transitions through sound and image.

The project originated from a personal interest in Gnawa culture and from a period of research focused on the Zaouia of Sidna Bilal, a sanctuary of deep symbolic importance within the Gnawa tradition. The recordings trace both physical movement and inner listening, unfolding as a journey across cities, rituals, and states of perception.

The title and subtitle refer directly to key concepts within Gnawa culture. Joula denotes an initiatory journey—both physical and symbolic—experienced through music, ritual, and collective participation. Saha is an expression of gratitude and encouragement, commonly used after musical performances to wish strength, health, and vitality. Maalem refers to the master musician: not merely a skilled performer, but a bearer of memory and authority, responsible for transmitting knowledge through oral tradition, music, rhythm, and dance within the complex ritual known as Lila.

In this work, field recording becomes an instrument and a tool for memory. Rather than heavily transforming the original material, I chose to preserve the sounds as they occurred, organizing them into a chronological structure that mirrors the unfolding of the journey itself. The composition functions as a sonic notebook or travel journal, where recorded environments retain their documentary quality while being shaped through compositional listening.

The recordings were made primarily using a Zoom H1—chosen for its portability and discretion—allowing for close proximity to the environments without disrupting them. The visual layer was captured using an iPhone; each video retains its original audio track at a very low level. This choice creates one of the central compositional strategies of the work: an intentional ambiguity between sound and image.

Throughout most of the piece, there is a subtle displacement between what is seen and what is heard. Sounds occasionally appear to emerge directly from the image, while at other moments they belong clearly to the composed audio layer. This controlled misalignment destabilizes perception, keeping the listener in a constant state of uncertainty: is this sound “real”? Does it belong to the image, or has it been repositioned in time?

Only in the final section does this ambiguity dissolve. Here, sound and image finally coincide. The listener encounters Maalem Omar Hayat, recorded in Essaouira on September 1st. At this point, chronological order gives way to perceptual clarity: what is seen is what is heard, and the work settles into a moment of stability.

The structure of the sonic diary unfolds as follows:

• August 31: arrival in Marrakech, framed by the sounds of the airport—departure calls, reverberant spaces, crowds, and birds—followed at night by the call to prayer of the muezzin, marking the first deep acoustic encounter with the city.

• September 1: travel by taxi to Essaouira, an intermediate sonic corridor between cities; encounters with the Maalem, the harbor, the main square, and the Zaouia of Sidna Bilal, where sound carries ritual and memory.

• September 2: a full day in Essaouira, marked by expanded listening—cafés, distant Algerian music, wind, cliffs, and ocean—forming the most contemplative section of the work.

• September 3–4: return to Marrakech, including a concert by Salim Gnawi, where the boundary between documentation and participation becomes porous; the journey concludes with sounds of transit once again—carts moving through the city and the airport—closing the diary’s circle.

Joula – Saha Maalem is not intended as an objective documentary, nor does it follow a linear narrative. It is conceived as a listening device: an invitation to enter an experience where memory, sound, time, and place intertwine. The listener remains in a state of perceptual uncertainty for much of the journey, only to encounter clarity at its conclusion—echoing the meaning of Joula itself: a journey whose truth reveals itself at the end.

Ballet mécanique

Music by George Antheil & Andrea Ruocco
Live electronic soundtrack for the film by Fernand Léger (1924)

Ballet mécanique is an experimental film by painter Fernand Léger, completed in 1924. The film has no narrative structure; instead, it unfolds as a sequence of images featuring characters, objects, shadows, and light. At the beginning, a figure resembling Charlie Chaplin—constructed from geometric cut-outs—comes to life and announces: “Charlot présente le Ballet Mécanique.”

The “ballet” of animated and inanimate objects is often built from the repetition of the same shot, rhythmically edited and juxtaposed with others. Images are mirrored, inverted, or rotated, generating multiple visual perspectives and creating the illusion of movement from elements that are, in reality, static. Through montage, repetition, and visual fragmentation, the film produces a mechanical, pulsating sense of motion.

To create the soundtrack for this film, I began by analyzing and transcribing a large portion of the original music composed by George Antheil. From this material, I constructed a mosaic-like structure, intervening in the spaces that emerged by reiterating fragments of Antheil’s music and introducing small personal “insertions.” These additions gradually develop throughout the film, entering into dialogue with the original material while reshaping its temporal and sonic relationships.

The resulting electronic composition is conceived as both a homage and a reinterpretation, maintaining a close connection to Antheil’s musical language while allowing new layers to emerge through repetition, transformation, and compositional intervention.

This electronic soundtrack was premiered on July 24, 2024, exactly one hundred years after the original film, at the Teatro di Locca di Ledro, within the Musica Riva Festival (Trentino, Italy).

America Forever

Guembri & Electronics
Electronic composition with Guembri (2024)

America Forever is a sonic journey that continues the explorations begun in Sérénité Sahara, a previous work inspired by Gabriel Fauré. In this new project, I turn to another major composer, Giacomo Puccini, drawing inspiration from his music and his 1907 visit to the United States.

The composition intertwines elements from Puccini’s works with rare archival recordings, including:

• fragments of Puccini’s music, reworked electronically to evoke the vibrant, cosmopolitan atmosphere of early twentieth-century New York,

• a recorded speech by Puccini at his departure from New York, expressing gratitude and emotional reflection on his American experience,

• a piano recording of Puccini, offering a glimpse of his virtuosity and compositional voice.

In America Forever, the guembri—a traditional Gnawa string instrument—takes on an experimental role, engaging in dialogue with the electronic layer. Its timbres, techniques, and textures expand beyond the constraints of tradition, contributing to a hybrid sound world that bridges past and present.

The composition establishes a dialogue between historical and contemporary soundscapes, connecting Puccini’s music with new sonic interpretations. Electronics act as a bridge between eras, transforming archival and traditional elements into a fresh, immersive auditory experience. The guembri similarly transcends its conventional function, becoming a tool for timbral exploration and sonic research.

This work reflects my broader artistic inquiry: creating a dialogue between tradition and innovation, between past and future, through sound. America Forever and Sérénité Sahara explore “parallel narratives,” merging musical cultures, historical contexts, and sonic languages into a unified sound space.

The result is an immersive listening experience, where memory, history, and experimentation coexist, inviting the audience to navigate a musical landscape that is at once reverent of the past and open to new sonic possibilities.

Sérénité Sahara

Guembri & Electronics
Electronic composition with Guembri (2024)

Sérénité Sahara is an imaginative sonic journey inspired by the French composer Gabriel Fauré. The work envisions Fauré dreaming of Morocco on the evening of March 30, 1912, shortly after the country became a French protectorate.

The composition combines two central elements:

• Fragments of Fauré’s music: melodic and harmonic motifs drawn from his main works, assembled and transformed into an electronic track that evokes a wandering, dreamlike atmosphere.

• The guembri: a traditional low lute from the Gnawa musical tradition, with a warm, resonant timbre perfectly suited to the meditative qualities of the piece. In Gnawa rituals, the guembri is often played at night or twilight, reinforcing the nocturnal, contemplative character of the composition.

Sérénité Sahara unfolds as a journey across time and space, merging European classical music with the mystical soundscape of Morocco. It explores parallel narratives: musical and historical-cultural. The fusion of Fauré’s legacy with North African sonic textures creates a dialogue between distant eras and geographies. Through overlapping timbres, melodies, and atmospheres, the work constructs an imaginary bridge between a European composer’s dream and the real, vibrant sounds of an ancient land, where desert and stars converge.

This exploration reflects my broader musical inquiry: fostering a dialogue between tradition and innovation, past and future. The guembri, with its deep, ancestral resonance, serves as a starting point for sonic exploration. Through electronics, its sound is reimagined, transformed, and projected into new dimensions, where historical elements meet contemporary and experimental expression.

In Sérénité Sahara, the listener experiences an encounter between Fauré’s musical world and the North African soundscape, as if the composer himself were dreaming through the desert. The work forms part of a continuum with America Forever, where I similarly explore the intersection of historical music and modern experimental sound, creating parallel narratives that connect distant cultures and epochs.

These projects aim to establish a space where tradition and experimentation meet, allowing distinct voices to find points of connection and dialogue within a single sonic landscape.

La Casa sull’Albero

Composer: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2025
Instrumentation: Contrabass, Two Violins, Viola, Guitar
Context: Live performance at Palazzo Martini, Riva del Garda (TN)
Relationship to Improvisation: Composed piece; no direct improvisation

La Casa sull’Albero is a musical reflection on childhood imagination, adventure, and the universal dream of having a treehouse. The composition embodies a personal and collective memory of secret refuges where dreams take flight, celebrating the joy and freedom of being a child.

The work features a string ensemble (two violins and a viola), guitar, and contrabass, interacting in a lyrical and evocative manner that conveys wonder, playfulness, and nostalgia. Each instrument contributes to a shared musical narrative, creating a sense of exploration and magic.

The piece was performed on May 17, 2025, at Palazzo Martini, Riva del Garda (TN), with:

• Nick Petricci – guitar

• Maya Parisi – violin

• David Petrouchev – violin

• Luca Geat – viola

• Andrea Ruocco – contrabass

Official recording produced and published by Osmio Project.

Preludi nelle foglie (Live at Casa Raphael)

Composer/Performer: Andrea Ruocco

Year: 2024

Instrumentation: Contrabass, Violin, Flute
Context: Live performance at Casa Raphael, Roncegno; album Preludi nelle Foglie (Osmio Project)
Relationship to Improvisation: Collaborative improvisation with compositional elements; inspired by meditation
Producer: Lucio Acceso (recording and mastering)
Music Publisher: Spur Technologies Ltd
Released via: Osmio Project, provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises

In June 2024, in the evocative concert hall of Casa Raphael in Roncegno, a musical project was born combining improvisation, introspection, and deep human connection. Together with Teresa Toller (violin) and Emma Cavedaghi (flute), all trained as music therapists at CESFOR – Centro Studi e Formazione, we explored a dialogue between sound, emotion, and meditation.

The creative process began with meditations on leaves from trees significant to each musician, which inspired the compositions. Through this intimate sonic exploration, we responded to the impressions communicated by these natural elements, resulting in a musical journey that blends the warmth of the contrabass, the delicacy of the flute, and the depth of the violin.

The performance of Glicine captures this spontaneous and spiritual approach, forming part of the album Preludi nelle Foglie, released on November 29, 2024, by Osmio Project.

Performers:

• Andrea Ruocco – contrabass

• Teresa Toller – violin

• Emma Cavedaghi – flute

Credits:

Producer: Lucio Acceso (recording and mastering)
Music Publisher: Spur Technologies Ltd
Released via: Osmio Project, provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises

Autoritratto

Composer: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2020
Instrumentation: Piano, Double Bass, Cello, Guitar (multitracked)
Context: Solo experimentation during COVID-19 quarantine
Relationship to Improvisation: Guided by instinct and spontaneity; structured through layered takes

Autoritratto represents the heart of my sonic experiments during the March–April 2020 quarantine. The piece emerged from four initial takes, forming a personal dialogue with myself and my creative process during a period of isolation.

Immersed in solitude and creativity, I explored four distinctive melodies, allowing each instrument—piano, double bass, cello, and guitar—to express itself independently while contributing to a single, immersive soundscape. Carefully arranged overdubs add depth and complexity, shaping a layered and intricate musical experience.

This composition is both a reflection and a response to uncertain times: an intimate exploration of sound, texture, and personal expression, inviting attentive listening and engagement with a delicate, self-contained musical world.

Timidezza

Composer/Arranger: Andrea Ruocco (arrangement of E. Elgar, Sospiri, Op. 70)
Year: 2023
Instrumentation: Contrabass, Drums, Voice, Saxophone, Guitar
Context: Ensemble arrangement for live and recorded performance
Relationship to Improvisation: Arranged with interpretive freedom; some improvisational elements in instrumental dialogue

Timidezza is an arrangement of Edward Elgar’s Sospiri for string orchestra and harp (Op. 70), reimagined for a small ensemble. The composition blends classical inspiration with contemporary instrumentation and expressive textures, exploring intimacy, timbre, and lyrical interplay.

The work features a unique dialogue between contrabass, drums, voice, saxophone, and guitar. Vocal lines, co-written with Liliana Sommariva, interweave with instrumental passages, creating a narrative of introspection and subtle emotional tension.

Performers:

• Andrea Ruocco – contrabass

• Alessandro Ruocco – drums

• Liliana Sommariva – voice

• Marcus Moser – saxophone

• Matteo Scalchi – guitar

Lyrics (excerpt, April 2023):

A te
Dedico
Questa melodia
io e la voce
Timidezza vai
Tu via
Ora canto io
Ora suono…
Forse scoprirai
Che la verità
Si nasconde
Nelle tue parole
io vedo una bugia
Nei tuoi occhi…

Il Pescatore

Composer/Arranger: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2021
Instrumentation: Double Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar
Context: Small ensemble arrangement
Relationship to Improvisation: Originated from a piano improvisation; later arranged and adapted for ensemble

Il Pescatore was born from a piano improvisation following the sad news of a close friend’s untimely passing. The piece was later arranged for a small ensemble, adapting its form while preserving the emotional essence of the original improvisation.

The composition is dedicated to the memory of a dear friend, capturing a sense of reflection, grief, and intimate remembrance. The ensemble interpretation allows each instrument to contribute its voice to the narrative, creating a sensitive and resonant dialogue.

Performers:

• Andrea Ruocco – double bass

• Matteo Scalchi – electric guitar

• Federico Bosio – acoustic guitar

Acknowledgment: Thanks to Federico Bosio and Matteo Scalchi for their profound musical sensitivity in bringing the piece to life.

Bark&Roll – MaSk Trio

Arranger/Composer: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2022
Instrumentation: Trio arrangement (instrumentation varies per performance)
Context: Competition piece for Music for the Next Generation
Relationship to Improvisation: Arranged work with interpretive freedom; creative adaptation of original material

Bark&Roll is an evocative arrangement of the famous Barcarolle by Jacques Offenbach, reimagined for the MaSk Trio. The piece represents a musical journey—from Torbole, through Vicenza and Bolzano, all the way to Granada—and even across the Strait of Gibraltar into regions where the oud is a traditional instrument.

Unable to travel physically, the trio explored this path imaginatively, using music as a vehicle for mental and emotional exploration. The arrangement transforms Offenbach’s iconic melodies into a fresh, contemporary sound world while preserving their lyrical and flowing qualities.

Peep – Blossom Trio

Arranger/Performer: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2020
Instrumentation: Contrabass, Guitar, Voice
Context: Arrangement for the ArrangiaMI competition
Relationship to Improvisation: Free reinterpretation and creative rearrangement of the original composition

Peep is a free interpretation and reimagining of Pippo Franco’s composition “Mi scappa la pipì”. The work transforms the original material into a new sonic and expressive landscape, exploring humor, rhythm, and timbral interplay.

Performers:

• Andrea Ruocco – contrabass, arrangement

• Federico Bosio – guitar

• Maya Parisi – voice

• Ayla Parisi – recording and photography

Cuore di Carta – Blossom Trio

Composer/Arranger: Andrea Ruocco
Year: 2020
Instrumentation: Contrabass, Guitar, Voice
Context: Ensemble composition and performance with Blossom Trio
Relationship to Improvisation: Composed with stylistic elements open to interpretive freedom

Cuore di Carta is a melodic composition dedicated to and inspired by Charlie Haden. The piece is shaped around a milonga rhythm, giving it a distinctly Argentine character and connecting it to the expressive, lyrical qualities of South American music.

Performers:

• Andrea Ruocco – contrabass

• Federico Bosio – guitar

• Maya Parisi – voice

Credits:

• Text: Alberto Sinistro Crudeli

• Recording: Ayla Parisi

Preludio n. 1 – Andrea Ruocco

Year: 2016–2017
Instrumentation: Piano solo
Context: Improvisational prelude from a series inspired by meditative practice
Relationship to Improvisation: Directly derived from meditation-based improvisation

Preludio n. 1 is part of a collection of piano improvisations created after breathing meditation sessions. On the day of this piece, I went apple-picking with my father and meditated on that experience. While playing the piano, I remained in a meditative state, where it was unclear whether I was hearing the sound before or after my fingers moved, or whether my movements were guided by non-musical thoughts.

This prelude marks the beginning of a series of explorations realized between 2016 and 2017, capturing spontaneous, introspective musical moments directly influenced by meditative awareness.

Armonie Interiori – Andrea Ruocco

Release Date: April 17, 2024
Instrumentation: Voice, Cello, Keyboards, Piano (performed by Andrea Ruocco)
Context: Solo album for meditative listening
Relationship to Improvisation: Composed with intuitive and reflective techniques inspired by meditation

Armonie Interiori is an album designed to guide the listener into a meditative state. The music can accompany study, work, physical activity, or moments of relaxation—whether seated or lying down, with eyes open or closed. Each of the seven tracks is inspired by a specific Chakra, exploring its energy and resonance through sound.

The album was conceived after an invitation to a meditation conference, where I was asked to create music for Chakra meditation. This prompted research and composition of seven pieces that blend harmonic and melodic structures with contemplative intent.

Tracks:

1. Sinfonia Iniziale

2. Risonanze Profonde

3. Echi del Centro

4. Spettri dell’Anima

5. Soglie Celesti

6. Cantico dell’Essenza

7. Onde Riflesse

Credits:

• Artist/Composer/Producer/Performer: Andrea Ruocco

• Instruments: Voice, Cello, Keyboards, Piano

• Recorded and mixed in Torbole

• Label: Osmio Project

• Copyright: Andrea Ruocco