DANILO RICCI
Orchestrations
As an orchestrator, Danilo has contributed to major live projects, from drum & bass events at the Barbican to chamber and orchestral arrangements that bridge classical and contemporary worlds.
OrchestRAM & OrchestRAVE
Barbican Centre (2022–2024)
An Orchestral Journey Into Drum & Bass
From 2022 to 2024, Danilo worked as an orchestrator in collaboration with the Barbican Centre and Guildhall Production Studio on three large-scale Drum & Bass concerts: OrchestRAM (2022, 2023) and OrchestRAVE (2024). These landmark commissions reimagined electronic music for full orchestra, presented on the Barbican’s main stage with spectacular production.
OrchestRAM (Sept 2022, March 2023)
In partnership with RAM Records, these concerts transformed classics and new releases from the label’s catalogue into orchestral works. Performed at the Barbican with orchestra, DJ, percussion, and singers, the programme featured music by Chase & Status, Wilkinson, Sub Focus, Origin Unknown, DJ Fresh, RAM Trilogy, Mandidextrous, Culture Shock, Mob Tactics, Andy C, and Raiser.
OrchestRAVE (March 2024)
Commissioned by the Barbican to celebrate the 15th anniversary of UKF, OrchestRAVE expanded the concept into a broader exploration of bass music and rave culture. The concert featured orchestral renditions of tracks by The Prodigy, Flux Pavilion, Pendulum, Nero, Hybrid Minds, Koven, Camo & Krooked, Mefjus, K Motionz, Goddard, and Emily Makis, elevated by stage production and lighting design from Jon M Armstrong (double LIT Award winner).
As one of the orchestrators, Danilo contributed to shaping how drum & bass was reimagined for orchestra in a sold-out Barbican Hall setting. These collaborations stand as milestone commissions fusing orchestral performance with cutting-edge UK electronic music culture.
The 2024 OrchestRAVE performance is available on UKF On Air’s YouTube channel.
Music for London Bridge
(Illuminated River Public Art Commission)
Danilo’s composition for the major public art project Illuminated River was chosen by the Illuminated River Foundation to represent London Bridge and launch their official Christmas countdown in 2021. Illuminated River lights up nine of London’s iconic bridges along the Thames, forming the world’s longest public art commission.
The music mirrors the architecture of the bridge itself: just as piles, piers, parapets, trusses, and girders create a structural whole, orchestral music has its own scientific architecture — transitions, articulations, communications between sections, parallel motions, and contrary motion.
The piece begins with reverberant electronic soundscapes evoking a festive winter atmosphere, gradually building into a vibrant orchestral climax. At its height, strings race in parallel and contrary lines, echoing the skyline around London Bridge — the peak of The Shard, the City’s skyscrapers, and the historic Tower of London.
The music was performed by the Guildhall Session Orchestra, conducted by Danilo, who also recorded, mixed, and mastered the work.
Broadway Boogie Woogie
(Bauhaus Festival 2022)
Composed by Danilo Ricci, Broadway Boogie Woogie takes inspiration from Piet Mondrian’s iconic painting of the same name, translating its modular structure and vibrant geometry into sound. Written for the Bauhaus Festival in London (20 May 2022), the piece was performed by the Bauhaus Band at the Barbican and conducted by the renowned John Harle (Paul McCartney, Herbie Hancock, Elvis Costello).
Developing Mondrian’s concept of structure in music, Ricci used a mirroring process to apply modular principles to the jazz architecture of Rhythm Changes, enriched with chromatic stepping harmonies and block-organised melodic lines. The composition culminates in a large-scale “big band solo,” where musical squares and colours shift and blur, exploring the fine boundaries between harmony and abstraction.
Recorded live at the Barbican, London,
for the Bauhaus Festival 2022