Carmine-Emanuele Cella’s new concerto, When the Moon of Mourning Is Set, for augmented vibraphone and large orchestra, will receive its premiere at Teatro alla Scala in Milan on May 18, 2026.
Conceived as an “ecology of resonance,” the work extends the vibraphone through a network of sensors, transducers, resonant bodies, bass drums, and metallic surfaces. The solo instrument becomes both a performer and a source of transformation, activating a larger acoustic and electronic environment within the orchestra.
Inspired in part by the poetic world of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, the concerto explores memory, mourning, night, and water as musical forces. The result is a large-scale work in which instrumental virtuosity, orchestral color, and technological augmentation merge into a single, evolving sound world. More information is available on the venue's website.
Orchestra sinfonica della RAI
Michele Gamba, conductor
Minh-Tam Nguyen, vibraphone
Etienne Demoulin, live electronics