Urpremiere: Vinaccia | Repercussions

Paolo Vinaccia was a musician who lived life to the fullest, once saying that the drum set wasn't just an instrument but "an old mobile phone." An energetic bon vivant, an Italian who, by chance, settled in Norway and played with everyone and everything.

At times, Vinaccia enjoyed great success—contributing to nearly 300 releases and 3000 individual tracks—but at other times, he flew under the radar.

And even though many didn't know who he was, he could also take up a lot of space. Behind sharp formulations, antics, and bombastic statements was a wondering, complex, and self-expanding man who couldn't read sheet music but had enormous artistic visions.

In 2013, fate had it that Vinaccia rented out a room in his apartment. Composer student Audun Aschim moved in, a humble and cautious, yet theoretically skilled jazz guitarist from Langhus.

Somewhat odd but, as it turned out, divinely matched work partners.

Aschim quickly became Vinaccia's protégé and eventually his close friend and colleague. Together, they realized Vinaccia's visionary dream, "Judgment Day According to Paulus" a (very) commissioned work for Oslo Jazz 2015 performed at Oslo Cathedral, which included film projection, Eivind Aarset on guitar, and the Norwegian Soloist Choir. Vinaccia provided the ideas, and Aschim handled the composition and preparation of the score. Without exaggerating, it could be called a trial by fire for a 23-year-old newly graduated composer.

"We worked 10 hours a day all that summer before the concert—a stamina I haven't seen in any other musician before or since."

For Vinaccia's 70th anniversary, Aschim, along with the Vinaccia Legacy Team, produced the audiovisual performance "Vinaccia|Repercussions." Among other things, he went through enormous amounts of archive recordings from Vinaccia.

"Paolo's presence is woven into the concert through recordings, unfinished material and compositions, atmospheric percussion tracks, visuals, and an overall musical and visual concept that reflects his vision with dignity, respect, and exciting dramaturgy."

All these elements will interact with the Italian musician Enzo Favata (local instruments from Sardinia)), Audun Aschim (guitar and electronics), Trude Semb-Vinaccia (visual development/design/dramaturgy), and Tord Knutsen (light and visuals).

The work is part of a three-step rocket because in addition to this, Vinaccia is celebrated with the premiere of Arne B. Rostad's documentary "Mystery Man" this year.

Among Rostad's previous works are the film "Chick Corea – The Musician" (2017) made at the request of Chick Corea, "Giganten" (2005) about Erik Bye, and the art film "The Scream" (2013) with Marina Abramović. A teaser for "Mystery Man" was already shown at Kongsberg Jazz in 2022 and is scheduled to premiere at the same festival this year.

In addition to this, a book project is also in the works, which will be realized in the coming years.

"Paolo was very concerned with meaning in music. It had to have a story, an inner image, a visuality. You had to create a rich inner world that you could access when you played. What he meant was that music had to come from an extra-musical place, such as a story or a feeling"

Concerts in our main program typically last between 60 to 90 minutes.
In Alexandraparken, there is an age limit of 18 years from 7:00 PM.
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