Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist Bruno Bavota will make his Rotterdam debut at Lab Grounds on 15 November, bringing the intimate piano and electronic textures of his new album Night Music to the city. Recorded largely after dark in a mountain studio in southern Italy, the album grew out of silence, summer heat and the particular state of mind that arrives when the noise of the day has faded.
Night Music will be released on 23 October through Oscarson and features twelve compositions moving from exposed solo piano to treated piano, electronics and strings. Much of the album was recorded on an old upright piano in Bavota's summer studio in Caposele, a small mountain town in the Irpinia region of Italy.
Ahead of his first visit to Rotterdam, we spoke to Bavota about why the album could only have been called Night Music, the value of leaving imperfections in a recording and what audiences can expect when he brings the project to Lab Grounds.
Why Night Music?
Why did you choose the title Night Music? Does the name refer to when the album was written and recorded, or more to the mood and emotional world of the music?
"It's both, actually. I usually spend my summers in Irpinia, in the mountains, to escape the unbearable heat of a city like Naples. But in the last few years, that heat has started reaching even the higher parts of Irpinia, where summers used to be much milder. Night became the only time I could really work, the only moment when everything cooled down and became quiet enough to record. So Night Music is literally the time I made this album in, but it's also the mood that came out of it: something calmer, more suspended, that only exists once the heat and the noise of the day have let go. When you are alone with your deepest thoughts."
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Finding something different in Caposele
Most of Night Music was created in your mountain studio in Caposele. What did that place, and particularly its silence, allow you to express that might have been difficult to find elsewhere?
"Caposele is a small mountain town in Alta Irpinia, only about 3,000 people and it was exactly for that reason that I decided to set up a second upright piano there, as a summer studio. It let me escape the heat while also working in a completely different space from my usual studio in Naples. Being somewhere else changes the emotions and sensations you have while composing; they're unique, unrepeatable, tied to that specific place and time. And this is always what I am looking for in music."
Italian composer Bruno Bavota, photographed by Linda Russomanno
Keeping the imperfections
The sound of the room itself became part of Night Music. Rather than removing the creaks, resonance and small irregularities captured during recording, Bavota deliberately allowed them to remain.
You chose to preserve the creaks, resonances and imperfections of the room and your old upright piano. How do you think those details shape the way listeners experience the music?
"I wanted to keep the room and the instrument as they are. The creaks, the resonance, the small imperfections and also how the piano sounds at night is totally different from playing it at other times of the day. I felt that I play it differently, with a softer touch that makes the piano sound warmer and this has also been something I wanted to crystalize while recording this music. To me, that's part of the same idea running through the whole album: imperfection is what makes something human, and it's often the most honest way to let a listener feel close to what you were actually going through in that moment."
From solo piano to wider soundscapes
While piano sits at the centre of the album, Night Music does not remain there throughout. Tracks including "We Still Have Time" and "Nightwalking" incorporate treated piano and electronics, while "Without You" introduces a string arrangement.
The album moves between exposed solo piano, treated electronics and, on "Without You", a string arrangement. How do you decide whether a piece should remain bare or develop into a wider soundscape?
"When I'm playing, I often hear parts for other instruments in my head, already with a fairly clear direction. That's the moment I decide to develop the piece further, leaving space to bring in those other instruments rather than keeping it bare."
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Holding on by letting go
One of the ideas behind Night Music is the feeling of trying to hold on to something that is already leaving. For Bavota, however, letting something go and preserving it are not necessarily opposites.
You have described the album as being connected to the feeling of trying to hold on to something that is already leaving. How did that feeling shape the compositions?
"For me that idea has two sides. On one hand, it's about letting go of what no longer belongs to us. A very human, sometimes painful process. But on the other hand, I think imperfection is exactly what makes us human, and what allows us to leave something intimate and honest with others. Those imperfections are, in a way, the most sincere way I have of holding on to a moment and sharing it with someone else."
Bringing the music to the stage
The Rotterdam concert will extend beyond the solo piano heard across much of Night Music. Bavota plans to combine acoustic playing with loops, electronics and synthesizer, building the arrangements live.
What can the audience expect from the live performance at Lab Grounds?
"The full live set: solo piano, piano loops, live electronics and synthesizer. It's a way to bring the music I made so far to the stage in its full range. From the bare, intimate piano moments to the more layered, expansive textures. All built and shaped live in the room."
A first visit to Rotterdam
The November concert will also mark Bavota's first time in Rotterdam, although he has performed elsewhere in the Netherlands before.
Have you visited or performed in Rotterdam before, and what are you most looking forward to when visiting in November?
"This will be my first time in Rotterdam. I love Dutch audiences and the way they listen to music, every time I've played in the Netherlands, it's given me great emotions and memories that have stayed vivid with me."
Bavota will arrive in Rotterdam just a few weeks after the release of Night Music. At Lab Grounds, the quiet details captured during nights in Caposele will move into a very different room, this time with an audience listening along.
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Practical information
Event: Bruno Bavota
Date: Sunday 15 November 2026
Doors: 19:30
Start: 20:30
Location: Lab Grounds
Address: 's-Gravendijkwal 58b, 3014 EE Rotterdam
Tickets: Early bird €11, regular €13.50, €15 at the door
Accessibility: Lab Grounds is on the second floor and there is no lift
How to get there
Lab Grounds is located in Rotterdam's Oude Westen at 's-Gravendijkwal 58b, close to the city centre.
Follow Bruno Bavota online
Want to hear more from Bruno Bavota or explore his music beyond Night Music? You can find him here:
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