Stefano Panunzi - Caravaggio (2026)

“Why Caravaggio? Because his chiaroscuro effects, expressed here in sound, describe states of mind that are fraught with desperation, tormented love, war, a search for oneself and distress. You can abandon yourself to music as a form of exorcism, purification, liberation. I’d love to be like Caravaggio and be found in the music I compose. “
This is how Stefano Panunzi introduces his fifth solo album, a double album to which he has given the name of this tempestuous artist. The album embraces Caravaggio’s style: the light that pierces the darkness, a human figure in the centre of the scene (and of life), beauty and violence that are in direct contact with each other.
Musically, Caravaggio belongs to the realm of contemporary art rock and also it combines both ambient and jazz influences, with a modern progressive vein, where the electronic music dialogues with sharp electric guitars and a relentless rhythm. Caravaggio is also influenced by cinema music and soundtracks that tell intense, often tragic or spiritual stories. However, the most significant difference compared to Panunzi’s previous works is the centrality of the voices: just as Caravaggio brought his subjects out of the shadow with a slanting ray of light, Panunzi places the singers in the centre of the music. He gives them the task of crossing and then recounting a dark, anguished and restless reality through a melancholic inner landscape.