Francesco Aroni Vigone - Orbita

The live performance recorded in the ancient Church of S. Giuliano, in Vercelli, encompasses some of the music conceived and written over the last few years, which Francesco Aroni Vigone spent in Valle d’Aosta. The recording location was chosen for its particular acoustics, perfect for a saxophone ‘solo’ and its aptitude for meditation. The performance took place during worship hours to have an unusual ‘audience’ in an unusual ‘liturgy’.

The pieces are monodic songs that can be traced back mainly to the concept of repetition, but also pay attention to the harmonic overlap provided by the acoustics. Songs that can be associated with different paces and their rhythm.

In some cases they are fragments that develop into improvisations as in ‘Marea’ and ‘Orbita’.

Two friends in a church, the man with the saxophone and the man with the microphone. One talks and one listens. One plays, the other records. January morning, cold sun and people coming in to pray. Faithful becoming audience? Concert that becomes liturgy.

The man with the saxophone starts walking and playing. In his own way, within a stream of musical consciousness, at one with the noises coming from outside. Like praying alone, in short. Since discovering this place, he has returned many times to sample its precious reverberations, and now he is finally here: climbing up the columns, following the curves of the vault, descending fast, pausing in the centre of the nave, returning hypnotised to St Catherine’s on the wall. A song for his friend, who meanwhile chases the sounds with his microphone.

Francesco Aroni Vigone takes us to the threefold heart of the liturgical and musical experience: the melodic meditation, the dancing procession, the ecstatic roundabout. Polyphonies for solo voice. Acoustic spirituality. Time of music that becomes temple space. Breath as eternal return. Linear and circular. East and West. Horizontal and vertical. Ascents. Orbits.

Inevitable to think of Garbarek and his “Officium”. But here we are far from that sublime eloquence and that choral instance. Here there is only intimate and individual prayer, wandering movement in search of the Sacrumano, language at once fractured and uninterrupted. However Dante zone, Paradise zone. In an attempt to get closer to the mystery of the mystical rose, to the motionless rotation of the blissful heavens, to those rainbow almonds symbolising awakening and hope. Until the squaring of the circle, evoked at the very end of the Comedy:

tal era io a quella vista nova:

veder voleva come si convenne

l’imago al cerchio e come vi s’indova.

— Francesco Brugnetta

Francesco Aroni Vigone

At the age of 18, he attended electronic music courses at the Turin Conservatory with Maestro E. Zaffiri and studied classical saxophone with F. Pinto and jazz with R. Rigon. He later deepened his knowledge in harmony with M° B. De Giorgi and arranging with M° G. Gazzani. He participated in jazz seminars with G. Trovesi, S. Lacy, M. Waldron and F. D’Andrea. Vercelli in the 1980s was very lively culturally and with drummer C. Saveriano and pianist L. Ranghino he formed the Progressive Steps group, recording with trombonist M. Cook and playing with numerous musicians such as Roberto Della Grotta, D. Patumi, M. Mayes, J. Riley, B. Abrahams and Jim Dvorak. In the field of creative music, he began a long collaboration with clarinettist G. Locatelli with whom he plays in a duo, in a trio with cellist and dancer L. Culver and in whose name he records Trochus with, among others, F. Monico and S. Lacy. His maturation came about thanks to bassist E. Fazio who included him in all his groups and ensembles alongside F. Sordini and C. Actis Dato. With him, he recorded a dozen CDs with various musicians including A. Mandarini, F. Bosso, G. Falzone, L. Rossi, G. Malfatto and took part in tours (Argentina, France, etc.) and festivals (Clusone, Noci, S. Anna Arresi, etc.). As a composer and arranger, he contributed to the formation of the orchestra African Market in Vercelli, the Altra Orchestra in La Spezia with M. Avanzini, Lauro Rossi and Luca Cosi, and the “Improland Orchestra” in Sestri Levante. In 1992 he won the 1st prize for composition for jazz orchestra in Sassari. Since 1990, he has been a member of the musical theatre band Tony e volumi (Banda Osiris) with which he took part in the successful television programme Celito lindo (Rai 3) and in subsequent theatre festivals. In the meantime, he continued his interest in electronic music and collaborated on the multimedia projects of composer G. Palmieri (computer music), founder of Sound Cage, and met numerous artists, including bassoonist R. Vernizzi and dancer N. Ragni, taking part in events such as the Venice Biennale and the Milan Triennale.

Poesie Fuoribordo is the project under his name that will bind him to poetry for about ten years. During this long period, he has set to music texts by Montale, Pascoli, Pasolini, Valente, Siclari and Zanzotto in numerous performances with G. Palmieri and the double bass player P. Ferrari. Under the patronage of the International Poetry Festival in Genoa, he produced two CDs: the first with DJ A. Bertallot on texts by E. Montale and a second with singer V. Vismara on lyrics by the poet F. Valente. A final work will be with poems by Dome Bulfaro, set to music by singer V. Vismara. Vismara and the contribution of L. Ranghino, S. Bolognesi and F. Monico.

He is currently involved in numerous productions:
Improland Orchestra, Lorenzo Capello quartet with Tina Omerzo and Michele Anelli.
In the theatrical field, he has been on tour since 2011 with the show ‘Canale Cavour’, by director F. Brugnetta with actress L. Giagnoni, for which he wrote the music with Noego.
He also wrote the music for “Canzoni a contatto” (Cmc Records 2018) on texts by poet Dome Bulfaro, with singer V. Vismara the double bass player S. Bolognesi and the drummer F.Monico.
Titip Quartet on music by Yusef Lateef. Umiliani Experience featuring the most famous themes written by film music composer Piero Umiliani, a project already presented at the Blue Note in Milan with Camilla Battaglia, Luca Calabrese, Luigi Ranghino, Paolo Zucchetti, Samuel Scotton, Marcello Testa and Claudio Saveriano. Art Studio with Irene Robbins, Claudio Lodati, Enrico Fazio, Fiorenzo Sordini In Trio under their own name with E. Fazio and F. Sordini Enrico Fazio Ensemble ARP with L. Ranghino and G. Palmieri Cooking Five tribute to Steve Lacy with M. Traversone, A. Leone, S. Ferrari and L. Capello.