Canti Notturni

Combining new music and the futuristic poems of early twentieth century poet Dino Campana, composer Beat Furrer created Canti Notturni (Night Songs). Supported by the AVL Cultural Foundation, Furrer’s composition debuted in a 2012 Helmut List Halle event in Graz, Austria.

The work’s three compositions were performed by opera singer Tora Augestad, accompanied by pianist Kirill Zwegintsow. Combining Campana’s powerful texts to create a new piece of work, Canti Notturni gave new life to the poems of his main body of work, Canti Orfici (Songs of Orpheus). Part biography, part fantasy, the Canti Orfici combines stories from Campana’s own travels with dreamlike descriptions of fantastic cities and landscapes. The poems have inspired many artists ever since, including Beat Furrer, whose interpretation of his work embodies them with new depths and intensity.