Mario Tronco talks about the Orchestra on the release of there first album
Mario Tronco, member of the group “Piccola Orchestra Avion Travel”, talks about his experiences as creator and director of the Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio.

• How did the Orchestra come about?

It was just an idea off the top of my head, a bet I made with Agostino Ferrente. One day I just happened to mention an idea I had of creating an orchestra with foreign musicians living in Rome and from that moment on, Agostino tormented me. It was all we talked about. I spoke about it with my wife, Francesca, and she was enthusiastic too.

At that same time the Apollo 11 Association was being founded with the desire to do something concrete for and in the neighborhood.

One evening Agostino, Annamaria Granatello (project development for Apollo 11) and I went to Monique Veaute’s house, artistic director of the RomaEuropa Festival, and proposed the Orchestra for a concert during the Festival. The only thing was that the orchestra didn’t really exist yet. She loved the idea and put us in a bit of a corner by asking us to play on November 24, 2002, during the closing festivities of the Festival.

I never expected such lively enthusiasm and participation from the musicians in the OPV. They are an inexhaustible source of ideas and proposals. There is healthy competition between them that never becomes individualistic and they play together as if they’ve known each other all their lives.
I never expected to be doing as many concerts as we are.
I never expected to see people so happy after our concerts.

Actually they all speak their own personal and sometimes entertaining Italian. We’ve created a new language within the OPV that we use during rehearsals and concerts.
To say “lascialo” (pronounced lashialo), we say “laccialo”, (pronounced lachialo) a word invented by Omar who is Cuban so doesn’t pronounce the sound “sh”. Our tour manager Francesca’s nickname is “Mamatoilet” coined from the fact that the Indians call her Mama and when Bilal needs to use the washroom, he asks “Mamma, toilet?”. Bilal has a slew of other words like “sempepatico” and “enpepatico” to say simpatico and antipatico.

A musical; a sort of on-the-road comedy.

• A multi-ethnic version of the Blues Brothers?

Sort of. For example, a concert was cancelled once because the stage was replaced by a meeting hall for Jehova’s Witnesses.

• Who writes the music for the Orchestra?

The thing I liked right away about the Orchestra was that there were already a lot of composers and writers among the musicians. There is a spin-off group made up of seven of the musicians in the Orchestra and I hope that there will be more experiments like this one in the future.

Very naturally. They are very curious as musicians. After the first rehearsal, each of them built a role for themselves. They all work towards the final result but everyone has their indivisual space.

• Do you improvise during concerts?

Of course, there’s a lot of room for improvisation. It sometimes creates confusion, but the musicians know how to hide their mistakes. They are used to playing at weddings and clubs so they have a lot of experience in improvising.

We’ve already played two songs: “Piccolo tormento” and “Canzone appassionata” by Avion Travel and “Tipota” a song I wrote for the film by Fabrizio Bentivoglio.

The support and enthusiasm of the Apollo 11 for the OPV has never changed and it pushes us to go forward. It’s not very easy sometimes.

I have less time to think and reflect on things and I really miss lazy Sunday afternoons.

• Who finances the Orchestra?

Before starting I thought we’d need funding or a loan but miraculously, the Orchestra can almost finance itself through concerts. Of course, we would love to find some funding so we can work with less stress and rehearse more frequently. The stage itself often becomes a rehearsal session.

• Do you have any future projects?

I would really like the Orchestra to be considered a true stable orchestra and to see other composers write music for them.

• Would you like to thank anyone?

First of all, my wife, Francesca. She is fundamental to the Orchestra and without her the OPV would have broken up after a month and she would have taken me to a psychiatric hospital.
I want to thank Agostino Ferrente again who was of great help while I was choosing the musicians but also because he is the one who looked after the often tedious and lengthy practical aspects, like relationships with Embassies and government offices.
The Orchestra would not exist if it weren’t for him.