Cooling down, calming down. After a four-hour drive from central Switzerland to the Val d’Ossola in Piedmont, and a short hike along the river Toce just beyond the village of Crodo, the Orridi di Uriezzo provided a stunning backdrop for the opening concert of this year’s Nextones Festival. To reach the site where British artist Lucy Railton performed an intimate set of etudes on the cello, subtly enhanced with a range of effects, festival guests had to pass through massive stone corridors carved into the Alps thousands of years ago by the meltwater of the Toce glacier. The walls radiated a welcome chill in the middle of the Italian summer. Upon arriving at the concert site, one realized: I’m good, I’m here, I’m cool.
“…a haven where music and nature harmoniously converge to foster meaningful connections,” is the aspiration of the organizers behind this small festival in northern Italy. At first, this might sound a bit cheesy, even presumptuous. However, the opening concert in these stunning gorges, masterfully delivered by Railton, suggests that the festival can indeed live up to its mission.
Embracing the festival’s credo, we shouldn’t consider just the actual venues as the festival site, but the entire valley (which, by the way, can also be explored on hikes organized by the festival). The Val d’Ossola reveals a series of spectacular surprises: towering waterfalls, picturesque villages with the region’s characteristic archaic stone houses, engineering marvels like a 360° tunnel to gain altitude, an impressive reservoir lake just behind the dazzling Cascata del Toce at the valley’s end, monumental boulders on the valley floor, and various quarries in the hills, which might initially seem like symbols of human mastery over nature, but upon reflection, turn out to be just tiny scratches on the surface.
One of these quarries, located behind the scenic hamlets of Oira and Canova, hosts the Tones Teatro Natura, an open-air site where the Friday and Saturday festivities took place. A diverse lineup of artists presented their work in sound and, in some cases, other disciplines, powered by a massive PA system that might have momentarily disturbed the slumber of the mighty Alps.
On Friday, for example, Barcelona-based rave MC Aisha Devi delivered an earth-shaking set, framed by a beautiful stage design—a massive patchwork quilt blowing in the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes energetically. Later that night, Lanark Artefax presented a shape-shifting interpretation of IDM, challenging perceptions of time and space. Saturday featured an ambitious and at times cryptic performance piece by producer Cosimo Damiano with designer Domenico Romeo, a delicate A/V performance with an epic ending by Alessandro Cortini and Marco Ciceri, and a laid-back yet punchy live set by Marie Davidson. However, the highlight of the sets at Tones Teatro Natura was Robert Hood’s performance. After a brief intro with alien ambient sounds, the Detroit techno legend let loose a thunderstorm of annihilating percussion. Fast, dry, stripped down—Hood’s set felt like hour zero and the future simultaneously.
Calling a sound that is 40 years old “the future” might sound silly, but the notion of counting years and decades feels even sillier when surrounded by stones that are thousands of years old.
With thoughts like these lingering on the drive back home on Sunday, it felt as if the festival had achieved its goal. Music and nature did indeed harmoniously converge during Nextones 2024, fostering meaningful connections. Bravo—e al prossimo anno!