Caterina Barbieri

Please join us for the very first Philadelphia performance from Caterina Barbieri.

“…one of the modular synth’s brightest and most singular new voices”
—Pitchfork

Patterns of Consciousness, the 2017 record from analog synth composer Caterina Barbieri, is aptly named. Through the repetition and permutation of patterns, the Italian-born, Berlin-based Barbieri builds immersive electronic masterpieces that are as much a nervous rush of notes as they are a larger meditation on the power of music and machines. Through complex sequencing, Barbieri coaxes polyphonic, polyrhythmic sounds from limited harmonic frameworks. With hints of Baroque lute music and cues from early Terry Riley and “intelligent instrument” wunderkind Laurie Spiegel, Barbieri’s approach to the synth is simultaneously minimal and muscular, expressive and expansive, resulting in “an imperial, exacting beauty,” according to The Wire.

Throughout the last year, Barbieri has kept busy. Her latest full-length album, Ecstatic Computation, was released on Editions Mego in May 2019, and she has recently collaborated with multimedia artist Ruben Spini to create their “Time-Blind” audiovisual show. Expanding upon her laser-sharp focus on computational contemplation, Barbieri generates layered, spellbinding music that challenges notions of what songwriting can and should look like. An emotionally astute composer and a compelling cultural critic, Barbieri is one of the most riveting conduits between electric and analog, human and machine.