As violinist, curator and founder of the trailblazing ensemble O/Modernt, Hugo Ticciati has spent more than a decade challenging how we experience classical music. With a deep-rooted belief that all music – regardless of when or where it was written – exists in the now, he brings together Baroque works, contemporary compositions, folk melodies, experimental sound worlds, and even rock, to create something wholly original and alive. Ahead of O/Modernt’s boundary-breaking season opener at The Bridgewater Hall on Monday 22 September 2025, Hugo reflects on the ensemble’s origins, their philosophy of presence, the myth of musical boundaries, and the balance between artistic instinct and innovation.
What inspired the founding of O/Modernt?
You could say there were two inspirations behind the founding of O/Modernt. On the one hand, there was the request to start a festival in a beautiful rococo theatre in Sweden. Dating from the 18th century, the spirit of the hall is extraordinarily alive and immediate. Combine this with my passion for contemporary music, and the idea of creating a festival that integrates old and new music in exciting ways was born. On a more fundamental level – and this is something that has become clearer over the years through my work with O/Modernt – there is, in reality, no such thing as ‘old’ or ‘new’ music. There is only music that sounds in the present. Ultimately, it is irrelevant when or where it was written. What is most important is how it speaks to performers and listeners directly – there and then – in the moment of its performance. In essence, O/Modernt’s guiding vision is to awaken a fully present listening in our audiences, and – it goes without saying – a fully present mode of playing in our performing. When they come together, the magic happens.
O/Modernt has been reinventing the concert experience by juxtaposing classical repertoire with non-classical works. What challenges have you faced in this creative process?
For me, one of the continual challenges of curating any programme, particularly one that combines a broad range of styles, is to be able to step back from my own very individual preferences and listen to the music with fresh and curious ears, as if I had never heard it before. I try to leave behind my pre-formed knowledge of why the works might fit together on an intellectual level and let the juxtapositions speak for themselves, purely through the experienced sonic narrative. This, I think, is one of the biggest and most enjoyable challenges.
Are there any musical boundaries that O/Modernt has yet to explore or push through?
On the surface level, yes there are countless genres, art forms and media that O/Modernt has yet to probe, and of course there always will be. On a more fundamental – and, I think, more important level – all such boundaries for me are simply an illusion. Sounds do not recognise borders, and if we understand music as pure sounding expression then the lines we have drawn to demarcate styles, genres, modalities, times, traditions and so forth are no more real than the lines on a map. I approach all musics with a curious mindset, asking, how does this speak to me? How might it speak to others? This opens up an unlimited potential for exploration.
Having performed music from a wide array of styles and traditions, do you find any common threads that connect them, despite differences in time and place?
Yes, yes and emphatically YES! My heart says they are all one. Intellectually, I’m not suggesting that we should rub out all demarcations in a flood of equalising eclecticism, as this would lead to a loss of identity and uniqueness that would radically affect music across the globe and throughout history. Rather, we need to celebrate each and every individual style and genre of music for what it is. Paradoxically, one way of doing this is by letting seemingly incompatible genres rub shoulders with each other in unexpected artistic juxtapositions. Such juxtapositions challenge habitual expectations and perceptions, turning the familiar into something strange, or making the strange seem uncannily familiar. Similarities in the artistic styles and approaches of music from diverse times and places resonate with each other, while the essential characteristics of different genres of music are experienced with greater clarity and definition.
If we approach all sonic phenomena as though they form a limitless ocean then each and every individual musical expression, irrespective of its historical, geographical or cultural context, is embodied in the uniqueness of each and every wave, every swirling current, every ripple or undulation, whether it is on or under the surface. Our role as curators of art and culture is to ride the waves without prejudice, celebrating their fluid singularity and their source in ubiquitous oneness.
In line with O/Modernt’s philosophy, “Invent the past. Revise the future,” how does the ensemble envision the evolution of the music world - both in reflecting on the past and looking ahead to the next 20 years?
My vision for the evolution of the musical world is the macro version of what I hope to curate in every individual concert. It is to awaken a state of performing and listening that reveals the interconnectedness of all the different kinds of music in the world, while also highlighting and celebrating their unique identities. This approach to music carries over in our experience of ourselves as living human beings. We share our fundamental nature with every other person on the planet. At the same time, we are all unique individuals, and our self-expression makes a vital contribution to the totality.
With respect to music, we can refine the idea still further. Every single note emerges from a space of silence to which it eventually returns. As it sounds, each note evokes in us a plethora of individualised prismatic colours – a quality that is so marvellously exploited by Arvo Pärt. Each one of us is a single note which, when its role in the global symphony is fulfilled, returns to silence, the source of all being.
What is O/Modernt’s perspective on the relationship between music and technological advancement, particularly with regard to artificial intelligence?
I see artificial intelligence as an incredible tool to enable developments in every area of the cultural landscape, but it will only carry us so far. When the heart, love and all things beyond definition enter the picture, then the work of AI is done. The great challenge and key to the way that we, as humans, interact with the exciting potentials of AI, is to sense this dividing line and navigate it consciously.
You can experience O/Modernt live at The Bridgewater Hall on Monday 22 September 2025, as they open the International Concert Series with a genre-defying programme featuring music from Hildegard von Bingen to Philip Glass, reimagined with bold energy and deep emotion. Joined by legendary percussionist Evelyn Glennie, this promises to be an unforgettable evening of sound, spirit, and storytelling. Don’t miss the chance to witness Hugo Ticciati’s vision in action – where the past is reinvented and the future reimagined, all in the present moment.