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Lamento
Performance by Théo Casciani and Lyra Pramuk
23.04.2025
Théo Casciani was welcomed for a residency in March 2025 at the Villa Medici to complete the writing of his next novel, Insula, and to imagine its theatrical adaptation. At the end of his stay, he invites American musician Lyra Pramuk, whose composite universe blends electronic music and lyrical singing, for an exclusive performance. This event is an opportunity to present, for the first time, an excerpt evoking a death that occurred exactly one year ago, with the arrival of spring. This reading is both a tribute and an act of vengeance.
Insula will be published in 2026 by Éditions P.O.L and several international publishing houses. This text brings together multiple genres, eras, territories, and identities, shifting from one point of view to another, from one speed to another, or from one dimension to another, in order to explore what lies hidden behind our reality. While this story, inspired by a personal experience of grief, is simultaneously a dystopia, an investigation, a love story, and a ghost tale—blending testimony and science fiction—it is above all conceived as a portal between multiple worlds; between truth and illusion, reality and virtuality, life and death.
Théo Casciani
Théo Casciani is an author. Born in 1995, he studied at SciencesPo. and the Sorbonne in Paris, before joining La Cambre in Brussels, where he now teaches. Rétine, his first novel, was published by Editions P.O.L in 2019. His fiction has been presented in many forms in France and abroad, including at WIELS, Kyoto Art Center, Centre Pompidou, Montez Press, GöteborgOperans, Actoral, Lafayette Anticipations, Palais de Tokyo, Spazio Maiocchi and Musée du Louvre. He has also contributed to publications such as AOC, Kaleidoscope, Alphabet, Mouvement and The Brooklyn Rail. These texts have also been the subject of numerous collaborations and translations.
Lyra Pramuk
Compelled by collectivity, spirituality, consciousness and care, the Berlin-based, American multidisciplinary artist Lyra Pramuk has conceived a unique form of devotional music. It doesn’t have to involve formal religion; to Lyra, devotion is the beating heart of her artistry, a way for her to harmonize the open-ended potential of the human voice with the magic of technology as it rapidly evolves. And it roots her latest album ‘Hymnal’, her own book of transformational worship songs. Exploring the ecstatic genesis of sacred ritual practices, it cultivates many of the themes introduced on her acclaimed 2020 debut ‘Fountain’. Lyra draws from folk, house, techno, gospel and her formal classical education, working alongside the Sonar Quartett string ensemble to construct a symphony of the universe that coaxes listeners across dividing lines and towards mutual liberation. This same philosophy underpins pop.soil, her forward-thinking experimental hub and label that deviates from the mainstream by prioritizing growth, cultivation and the exchange of ideas through physical and digital releases, online content, workshops, performances, and a bi-monthly cross-genre radio show on NTS. Frequently commissioned for film scores, sound installations and instrumental compositions, Lyra is also a passionate live performer who’s staged ambitious shows across the globe, collaborating with dancers, a chamber orchestra and visual artists to create a collective and pluralistic form of musical worship. To put it in simpler terms: Lyra has faith in her devotion.
Practical information
Wednesday, April 23rd
7.30 pm
Grand Salon of Villa Medici
Language: French
Free
Booking
