The title is "utp_". Pronounced "you-tee-pee-underscore." To reveal the secret, it's an abbreviation for Utopia. This work was commissioned as an original piece for an event celebrating the 400th anniversary of the city of Mannheim, Germany (though saying 'only' 400 years feels strange...). Alva Noto and I were asked to create it.
Alva Noto and I have collaborated and toured extensively for the past five years, so creating works together is relatively easy. However, for this project, the sole condition was to perform with Ensemble Modern, a contemporary chamber music ensemble from Frankfurt, making the integration of a live instrumental ensemble the key challenge.

We visited Frankfurt about four times, gathering in their studio to direct them verbally as they played, and we recorded all of it. I brought this sonic material with me during my stay in Rome last August, and Alva Noto and I extracted sounds from those recordings to create a single, long piece (which we called the 'model'). Then, to approach the final form, I took that model back to Frankfurt, played it for the ensemble members, and recorded again. While considering the actual stage performance, I created a very graphical score.