About the composition THEIA

THEIA is the first composed work for chamber orchestra and LUNASON instruments. The classical string instruments are augmented in the bass and tenor registers by the bassdesmophone and the desmophone. LUNASON's double bass, developed from metal, is used as the double bass. The concert grand piano, woodwinds and brass are in the center of the set-up. Behind them, the developments from LUNASON are positioned in a semicircle. Various nicophones, the kawaphone, the gaiabells, the pyrablocks, the spicas, two metaphones, the bass drum and four sixxens. The instrumentation of LUNASON has been developed by Domenico Melchiorre and his team of specialists over the last 20 years.

"In my new work THEIA, traditional instruments of the chamber orchestra are combined with the progressive instrumentation of LUNASON. What particularly excites me about this composition is the unification of the two sound worlds and the new possibilities of sound mixtures. Traditional instruments developed over centuries meet a progressive and modern set of new instruments. The work lasts about 40 minutes.

The sounds of the LUNASON instruments are often described as electronic, although the musicians create them purely instrumentally and without electronic means. This perception arises because the LUNASON instruments primarily produce different overtone spectra than traditional instruments do, and listeners are more familiar with such sounds from electronic music. There are shorter parts in which the LUNASON instruments are the sole focus, but basically mixtures can be heard in the work THEIA. Sound mixtures, in which the new and progressive overtone spectra of the LUNASON instruments combine with the sounds of the traditional instruments. This alienation and the novel sonority result in a new musical identity."

Domenico Melchiorre January 5th, 2023