Fondazione Prada presents, in collaboration with Threes, the live performance “Nexus” by Iranian percussionist Mohammad Reza Mortazavi. The concert will take place at the Church of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa, Milan, on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, at 9.15 p.m.
The interior of the Church of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa, designed by Giovanni Muzio in 1932, houses since 1997 the site-specific light installation Untitled by American minimalist artist Dan Flavin, produced by Fondazione Prada in collaboration with the Dia Center for the Arts in New York and Dan Flavin Estate. Transformed by the chromatic sequence created by Flavin’s neon, the spaces become a stage for Mohammad Reza Mortazavi’s concert, which will feature a selection of tracks from his new album Nexus (2025).
Mohammad Reza Mortazavi is internationally recognized as one of the leading players of the tombak and the daf, two traditional Persian drums. Over the course of his career, he has profoundly transformed the way these instruments are played, developing thirty new percussion techniques and employing forms and musical languages previously unexplored. His practice combines the roots of Persian traditional music with a distinctly contemporary approach characterized by rhythmic research, improvisation, and exceptional technical precision. In Nexus (2025)—recorded entirely in Berlin—Mortazavi introduces the use of voice, new effects, and acoustic treatments never featured in his discography. These compositions extend his ongoing exploration of rhythm, resonance, and transformation.
As the musician explains, “Nexus was a journey for me – a deep, transformative experience. Along the way, the ideas of connection, mutual influence, and transformation became clearly reflected in my sound. In moments where my playing shifted between release and focus, I came to understand that music is my teacher. It leads me to a place where everything is interconnected. For me, Nexus is the point where everything converges—where each encounter brings about a profound and new transformation. On this path, I became aware of something that remains unseen, yet undeniably present: an invisible world, hidden from view, whose effects shape our visible reality. Though we cannot see it, it is in motion – and through sound, through the waves of music, it connects with the outer world. Nexus, then, is more than a connection. It is a space beyond the visible – a point of convergence where the hidden becomes audible.”
Fondazione Prada collaborates with Threes for the seventh time to combine sonic experimentation with the spatial and visual research of Flavin’s site-specific intervention. Since 2017, the Church of Santa Maria Annunciata in Chiesa Rossa has hosted concerts and performances by established and up-and-coming artists, such as William Basinski (2017), Charlemagne Palestine (2018), Ellen Arkbro (2021), Arvö Part (2019), Maria Horn (2022), FUJI|||||||||||TA (2023), Marta De Pascalis (2024), Tashi Wada with Julia Holter (2024), Laraaji (2025), and Kali Malone (2026).