is chemistry between

man and machine
spaces and objects
music and noise
amusement and art
painting and theatre
electric wires and vocal cords
costume and movement
poetry and technology
Bach and Beatles
concept and sweat
reflex and knowledge
colour and sound
me and you
voice and void


Projects commissioned or projects Prof. Russolo creates in his studio – He is
all the time looking for challenging ideas, artistically and communicatively.

The name

In his manifest L'arte dei rumori / The Art of Noises (1913), the Italian futurist Luigi Russolo described the historic evolution of sound: in the beginning there was silence, in the end music as an artistic medium. From this he concluded that each and every sound can be
a meaningful and expressive sign. Russolo advocates the music of the future in which differences between artistic, natural and industrial sounds are no longer perceived.

Russolo was both a visual artist and a musician - as a futurist he found himself in the inspiring territory where artistic discplines meet, especially performing with his self-built noise intoners.

The decision to choose the name Prof. Russolo & His Noise Intoners is inspired by the need to move freely in a world challenging us to create, to think and to play.

The structure

Prof. Russolo & His Noise Intoners functions as a workshop around Prof. Russolo, embodied by Egmont Swaan, within a network of visual artists, poets, sonologists and dramatic artists participating in the various projects.



                                                           Egmont Swaan

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Luigi Russolo

Portogruaro 30 april 1885 -
Cerro di Lavena 4 february 1947


Italian painter and composer,
one of the founding members of Italian futurism.

Youth

Luigi Russolo came from a musically talented family: his father was the local clockmaker and church organist, two elder brothers became professional musicians. Luigi himself played piano and violin, but at 16 he decided to become a painter.


Painter of Sounds

His transformation of a quality painter into the famous musical frontrunner, was triggered by the performance of Pratella’s Musica Futurista in 1913. Listening to this orchestral piece, Russolo thought of a new and more radical concept of music / noise. This he stated in his manifest L’arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises). Here he tries to interpret the role and evolution of music, sound and noise through the ages; he argues in favor of a total acceptance and emancipation of the noises of the new, 'modern' age.


Noise Machines

His concept of 'the art of noise' brought him to construe his own instruments to realise his intentions: intonarumori (noise intoners) , boxes with mechanical and often electrical parts, with large speakers to realise his ideas.



Pioneer

Luigi Russolo was not a trained composer and therefore could develop surprising music dominated by the autonomous sound of his selfbuilt instruments. This open-minded attitude towards sound, was later followed by other composers and performers (John Cage, Pierre Schaeffer, Joe Jones e.g.).


Compositions

Luigi Russolo was the first to write his noise-music down in graphic scores. Compositions bear titles like Convegno delle automobile e degli aeroplani (Meeting of automobiles and aircrafts) and Si pranza sulla terrazza dell’hotel (Breakfast is served on the hotel terrace).








Later Years

In 1922 Luigi Russolo built the Rumorarmonio or Russolophone, a kind of organ that produced seven types of noise at twelve different pitches. Plans to mass-produce his instruments did not work out. At the end of his life Russolo again focused on philosophy and his painting.
                                                        'La musica' 1911

Russolo's Soundmachines - Noise Intoners

In Russolo's and the Futurists' philosophy, the combination of music/noise and machines was logical.
In this new age, characterised by technology and industrialisation, they discovered endless possibilities for musical man to explore and to create a new experience of music/noise.

Soundmachines

Russolo built, together with his assistant Piatti, his so called intonarumori (Noise Intoners), instruments/machines to realise his concepts about the music of the future.
Squeak, shreak, crunch, rattle, hiss are words to indicate the elements of this new music.
It goes without saying that the public reacted loudly and divided to the concerts that Russolo gave with his instruments.


Sound is everywhere

The association of music and machines are of course not an exclusive feature of modern times. Traditional musical instruments can, in retrospect, be seen as noise intoners too.
And to go one step further: aren't we humans and the animals and the rest of nature not all noise-producing machines? This makes the concept of Russolo's Noise Intoners archetypical, a story of all times.


Playing with Sound

Within the performance-art concept Prof. Russolo & His Noise Intoners, Egmont Swaan tries to translate this archetypical aspect to the present. He works together with technicians to develop and build his own noise intoners. Electronics, mechanics and computers are put to work to create a universe of sounds that he feels at home in, on stage as well as in the studio.

His attitude towards music, sounds and noises is very open, so he may surprise himselve and his listeners with unexpected sound inventions.

Egmont Swaan

* August 15, 1962, Rotterdam; Lives and works in Amsterdam

2004 - present	Central figure of performance-art concept Prof. Russolo & His Noise Intoners
1995	Majored in Composition with Daan Manneke, Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam
1992 - 1993	Institute of Integrative Psychology
1987	Music Theory Education Centre, State Exams

Competences
Music History, Renaissance and Baroque Counterpoint, Harmony, Analysis, Solfège, General Musicology, Accompaniment, Instrumentation, Arrangement, Orchestration and Composition.

Projects (selection)
interactive CD-Rom for Primary Schools, Commissioned by the LOKV, teaching children to compose in a basic and playful way.
Courses and lectures on many musicological and arthistorical subjects, e.g. 20th Century Music and the Visual Arts, Shakespeare and Music, Music and Alchemy.
Series of articles on music and rhetorics.

Compositions (selection)

2006      Taming of the Bull. Allegorical recital for soprano, piano and mime artist.
2003      De Toverfioele. Een volksverhaal op muziek (The Magical Violin. A Folk Story on               Music), Commissioned by the Frysk Wind Ensemble
2000      Annus-Rota, for carillon (First Prize of the Millennium Competition of the Dutch               Carillon Society)
1999      Pange lingua (in memoriam Marinus van den Heuvel), for tenor/piano/violin
1998      Abodamfoh droben enan, for recorder quartet
1997      Yoomaka, music to a shadow play
1996      De zucht van Marib en de metalen tuin (Marib's Sigh and the Metallic Garden),
              solo for piccolo trumpet
1992      Spiegelmis (Mirror Mass), for 12 singers and double bass

To Egmont music is the ultimate medium to connect with people and nature. He has no fixed concept about how music should be - he feels that divisions and categories are restrictive.

The concept of Prof. Russolo & His Noise Intoners is a focal point in his life. In his opinion, cooperative structures harbour important possibilities for the future.

Each experiment may lead to interesting discoveries. It is essential to elaborate your material or your research thoroughly. Because of the intense working process with the group, Egmont's vision of the future is optimistic and full of hope.