In writing Siphonophorae I allowed myself to go through a process of discovery, which led me to find contrasting shapes and ideas, but always following a thread that unites them. During the compositional process the sculpture of Thomas Glassford of the same title, which I had seen a few weeks before at the Museo del Chopo in Mexico City, came to mind. This is a very large piece of work whose imaginative shapes are part of a whole body. The title of both the sculpture and my piece is taken from the scientific name for a sea coelenterate, which has many tentacles of different shapes.

The work was written for Ensemble Recherche to whom is dedicated, an ensemble whose abilities are also a source of inspiration and freedom to allow the imagination to discover new ways of listening.

Siphonophorae was premiered by Ensemble Recherche in November 2016 at Casa della Musica in Parma, as part of the celebrations for the twenty fifth anniversary of Traiettoria Festival.