Ciciliani comes from Zagreb (Croatia). He studied composition in The Hague, New York and Hamburg. He lives in Amsterdam where he is involved in "Kraakgeluiden", a series of improvised music-performances involving acoustic and electronic instruments that started in 1999. Besides, Ciciliani composed for orchestra, chamber orchestra and other settings. He also performs and improvises and loves to works in various collaborative projects in the fields of theater, dance, video and music. As an improvisor Ciciliani uses the no-input mixer and played it in performances with Jaap Blonk, Cor Fuhler, Jim Fulkerson, Axel Dorner and others.

"Tullius Rooms" presents Ciciliani as a composer. It's a large scale composition in 24 parts for piano, electronics and ambient recordings. It's played by Ciciliani himself (electronics, inside paino) and Josh Dillon (piano), and it's recorded by Radio Bremen in october 2001.

For this composition Ciciliani is inspired by old memory techniques as the following quote extensively tells:

“From Antiquity up through the Renaissance, there are reports of people who had the ability to retain unimaginable amounts of information. These people accomplished such feats of recollection by means of a particular technique - the ars memorativa - which worked in the following way. One created a personal, imaginary building, all of the different spatial divisions of which one came to know well. In order to remember a particular subject, one would place various virtual objects in the rooms of the building. These objects would symbolically represent information. To recall something later, one would imagine oneself walking through that particular part of the building which housed the objects pertaining to the subject at hand and would then "decode" them. The idea of a fictitious building which, although uninhabited, is still 'imbued,' serves as the inspiration for this piece and as a metaphor for its formal organization. The form consists of 126 sections that were derived by means of a magic square. The architectural metaphor lends itself well to the piece and its sections, in that although the physical characteristics of individual rooms may greatly differ, together the rooms form an edifice. A second aspect in the piece is derived from architecture, in that the acoustic characteristics of the hall in which this piece is performed play an important musical role, as do those of the piano and the musician's body. These last two are also utilized as 'architectural' entities unto themselves. Furthermore, artificial and remote acoustics are brought in by means of electronics and soundscapes.”

So far the concept behind the music. Now the music itself. The compositions lasts almost 80 minutes, so it is a very long work. We hear mainly the piano, interluded or mixed with electronics. The electronics evocate sometimes old doors that are crackingly opened and give entrance to a new room. Whistling, some singing and little percussive sounds complete the set of instruments used. The 24 parts that make up this composition differ in use of acoustics. In some parts, like part 13, environmental sounds are heard and give a very spacial effect.

This modern classical work offers a succesfull intertwining of acoustic and electronic soundsources. The composition that's characterized by some rigidness offers an interesting journey that grows after repeated listenings.