American Mavericks at Festival Dag in de Branding on May 13
The crowning glory of this festival is the key work by James Tenney: Changes: Sixty-Four Studies for Six Harps. It is an awe-inspiring inventive exploration of microtonality. Although reams have been written about the piece since Tenney composed it in 1985, it is only now that six harpists have taken up the challenge to perform this extremely demanding masterpiece.
Harry Partch likewise puts musicians to the test. He felt that existing instruments cramped his creative spirit, so he developed his own instrumentarium from scratch. Scordatura Ensemble have built replicas of instruments he designed, and use them in a programme of early chamber music by this totally original genius.
Morton Feldman composed pieces in which the sense of time disappears on the edge of silence. Geerten van de Wetering will give his rendition of Principal Sound, the only piece for organ that Feldman ever wrote. This will be followed in the Kloosterkerk venue by Pauline Oliveros’s electronic sound poem Bye Bye Butterfly.
When George Crumb first set eyes on Lorca’s poetry he felt a remarkable spiritual affinity and he devoted a large part of his oeuvre to setting texts by this distinctive Spaniard to music. Christian Karlsen will conduct, among other works, Ancient Voices of Children, one of the most impressive ensemble pieces that Crumb wrote, featuring Keren Motseri as soloist.
PROGRAM SAT 13 MAY 2017
15.00 uur Korzo
Harry Partch - Rose Petal Jam
Scordatura Ensemble
16.30 uur Kloosterkerk
Morton Feldman – Principal Sound
Geerten van de Wetering, organ
Pauline Oliveros – Bye bye butterfly (tape)
19.30 uur Korzo
George Crumb – Quest
George Crumb – Ancient Voices of Children
Christian Karlsen, conductor
Keren Motseri, mezzosoprano
21.00 uur Het Nutshuis
James Tenney - Changes: Sixty-Four Studies for Six Harps
Ezequiel Menalled, conductor
Ernestine Stoop, Astrid Haring and their students
Tickets
Single tickets and passe-partouts for Saturday 13 May 2017 can be ordered at dagindebranding.nl/en/shop.
About Dag in de Branding
Tijdens Festival Dag in de Branding laten de Haagse podia, het Residentie Orkest en diverse ensembles je kennismaken met de nieuwste muziek. Drie keer per jaar organiseren zij met elkaar een festival vol ontdekkingen op verschillende locaties in Den Haag. De makers van nu staan centraal. Ontmoet de componisten en praat na met de musici. Wat fascineert hen en hoe hoor je dat terug in het werk?