Walter Marchetti

At this turning point in his career, Walter Marchetti met John Cage; he was instantly captivated by Cage's aleatoric music endeavors with David Tudor and his reliance on silence as the core structural element. In January 1959, Marchetti participated in one of the country's first international concerts of "random music," Noises at Rotonda, alongside John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Juan Hidalgo.

In 1960, Marchetti relocated to Spain and joined Música Abierta ("Open Music") society in Barcelona, recently established by Juan Hidalgo with fellow composers Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny, Joaquim Homs, Josep Cercós, and Luis de Pablo. By 1964, Walter moved to Madrid to start a more radical performance group, zaj, heavily inspired by Fluxus. Marchetti and Hidalgo worked with Ramón Barce, José Luis Castillejo, and other contemporary Spanish thinkers and artists to organize concerts, exhibitions, and installations. ZAJ members participated in several George Maciunas events and collaborated with other Fluxus associates and scholars over the years, including Demetrio Stratos and Gianni-Emilio Simonetti.

By the mid-1970s, after his USA tour with zaj organized by Mimi Johnson, Marchetti returned to Italy and settled in Milan. In June 1978, he participated in the musical happening Il treno di John Cage and discussed it with the composer and Tito Gotti on RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana radio. Walter remained active until at least the mid-2000s — composing, recording, and performing at prominent venues across Italy, including Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza, and abroad in France, Germany, the United States, and Japan. He died of a heart attack at 84.