Cristiano Melli (1980, Brasil) studied in the cosmopolitan São Paulo with Osvaldo Lacerda and Almeida Prado, distinguished Brazilian composers. He was selected for important festivals such as Curitiba’s International Music Festival (2001) the Campos do Jordão International Winter Festival (2005 and 2007), and the 4th International Workshop for Young Composers of Mazsalaca, Latvia (2008, with Yannis Kyriakides, Alla Zagaykevich and Johannes Staud); his music has been played in countries worldwide, like Brazil, Argentina, USA, Latvia and Netherlands, on important occasions like the Rio de Janeiro’s XXVIII International Biennale of Contemporary Music and since 2007 is published by the catalunian house Periferia Sheet Music. Cristiano Melli is member of the art collective Colombo Daime and the musical ensemble Rupestre. His works develops a style were the contemporary urban world blends with ancestral cultures, using both the western tradition as well as a ritualistic, primitive sense, and dealing with the opposition between virtual and real.  www.myspace.com/cristianomelli

Lo que vi el agua (What I saw in the water): this music is inspired by the painting of the same name by the great Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. In her work, a series of figures emerges from the water in a bathtub, creating a surrealistic image which surrounds the viewer. This gave me the idea of spreading the musicians across the room, in order to enable music to float around the space, framing the musical discourse with the surrounding sounds of trees, birds and winds of a forest or in the crowded streets of a megalopolis.

This work was composed in 2008 and premiered in Latvia during the 4th International Workshop for Young Composers of Mazsalaca by the wind quintet Quintus Anima, and is part of the opera cycle As Cartas de Colombo (Columbus’ Letters).