"Looking for essence" - an interview with Teho Teardo

For the fourth year running, Concorto invites you to its unique Festival Opening Party! Our most welcome guest and protagonist of the night’s concert, together with Laura Bisceglia at cello, will be the musician and composer Teho Teardo, former Concorto’s jury member in 2015. Teardo, author of the scores for great directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Enda Walsh, will perform a live concert in the cloister of the building, taking advantage of the dusk light. Less is more: after a series of concerts in a trio, quartet and larger ensembles, Teho Teardo goes back to duo with cello and baritone guitar. The affinity between these two instruments brings the sound to a minimalistic and essential dimension, connected by electronics.

We’re delighted to have Teho back with us and we grabbed the opportunity to ask him a few questions about music and his long-term relationship with cinema.

“I do not trust inspiration, I rather work, make attempts, look for things.”

– Hello Teho, how was it born this idea to put up a live set with only two elements, after the more “crowded” concerts you’ve performed in the last years? How did you choose the tracks that compose this performance and why did you pick them from “Ballyturk”, “Arlington” and “Music for Wilder Mann”?

Duo to me is an ideal dimension, it allows me to keep things essential, but I’m often wrong and I find no essence at all. Then I start everything again until I think I’ve found it. The three works you mentioned are three segments that I find quite close at the moment. If you put them one after the other you get a fair good picture of my recent path. In the set list I’ve put older tracks as well, such as something from La Ragazza del Lago, a work I did almost 10 years ago.

– You’re attracted by many art forms, from cinema to theatre and photography; how do you find the right inspiration to create each time such coherent music scores, perfectly entwined with the visual artistic content?

I do not trust inspiration, I rather work, make attempts, look for things.
I like to think of music as a way to open doors and connect worlds in the sound system but also between different art forms. The relationship between music and cinema is a field I love very much, and I feel quite lucky to be able to work on many films each year.

“If you’re looking for new talents you have to look into the shorts field.”

– How was your last experience in Concorto? Was it you first “contact” with the short-film world?

I’m happy to be back in Piacenza because Concorto’s organizers have a contagious enthusiasm for cinema.
The short-film world actually touches me because I’m often approached by young directors and cinema students who ask me to compose the scores for their shorts. I’m always happy to do it, I’m attracted to shorts and I’m positive new talents are born there. We know very well who’s part of the “official cinema” but if you’re looking for new talents you have to look into the shorts field.

– A film of the past you wish you had composed the soundtrack.

I do not dare say.

Interview curated by Virginia Carolfi.