When Martino Traversa created Ensemble Edgard Varèse at the end of the 1980s, nobody probably thought that several years later it would end up being one of the major national institutions in the domain of contemporary music. The foundation of the Ensemble set the goal of re-launching and promoting one of the most peculiar and prolific sectors of the music of our times, particularly focusing on electronic and electroacoustic music. It is quite revealing that the Association was dedicated to Edgard Varèse, a true forerunner of that revolutionary experience in the musical field, and that the opening of the musical festival Traiettorie – organized and carried out by the Ensemble – took place with an hommage to Luigi Nono.

In all the past years of activity, the Associazione Culturale Ensemble Edgard Varèse has consistently tried to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to music, experimental research and arts. For this reason, the concerts’ programmes have always strived to combine research in the musical field to other forms of art - above all figurative arts - and to scientific research in the area of physical-mathematical sciences applied to musical acoustics.

Despite the many accomplishments, in the continuous effort to consolidate and develop in a more articulated way the twenty-year activities performed in the domains of music, didactics and artistic pro­duction in general, the decision was taken to create Fondazione Prometeo, an enterprise promoted by Martino Traversa himself, supported by many artists and intellectuals from Italy and Europe.