The Berio Project

“Joseph Puglia…proves once again that “modern” music is not a priori dry and unapproachable, but can also be fiery and emotional. Highly recommended!”

T. Derks  Cultureel Pers Bureau 07/16

“One can hear throughout that Joseph has a great affinity with the music of Berio.”

– De Volkskrant

“A Spectacular Escape!!”

– Opus Klassiek CD review

“Mindblowing”

 – Luister Magazine CD review (10/10)

My first experiences listening to Luciano Berio’s music—his Sequenzas, Folk Songs, Visage, Rendering—were a personal revelation. Each of those pieces sounded so personal and expressive, and also so different to me that had I not known, I would have guessed they were written by many different composers. When I first learned the violin Sequenza as a student at Juilliard, it served not only as a personal challenge (i.e., could I actually play this seemingly impossible piece), but as a gateway to many other 20th and 21st century composers whose music I have also grown to love.

Since then I have spent many years of performing and studying Berio’s music as a soloist, chamber musician, and as concertmaster of the Asko|Schoenberg ensemble. All of this has led me to start a “Berio Project”, which consists of a CD recording, teaching and performance workshops, and special “bonus” recordings of his Duets for two violins, which I re-recorded in order to create the same variety of interpretation in his music that we find in Berio’s own compositional styles.

Through this project I hope to inspire audiences and young musicians to appreciate Berio’s music with the same intensity that I do. I hope that audiences will be intrigued, just as I was, to look deeper into the music of this great composer, and also of his contemporaries and successors.