Ensemble Modern at Romaeuropa and Prague Sounds

On November 4, 2023, Ensemble Modern makes a guest appearance at the Romaeuropa Festival in Rome, which aims to capture the »geography of the arts« in its 38th edition, launching a dialogue between disciplines and different generations. Ensemble Modern’s concert under the baton of Bas Wiegers takes place at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone at 5 pm and is dedicated to three composers who were all fellows at the Villa Massimo, the German Academy in Rome. Ondřej Adámek (b. 1979) composed ›Kara­kuri – Poupée mécanique‹, performed with the soprano Landy Andriamboavonjy. Adámek was inspired by the »karakuri«, human-like mechanical puppets which were manufactured in Japan in the 18th and 19th century. Unsuk Chin’s (b. 1961) ›Fantaisie mécanique‹ contrasts the living (fantaisie) with the dehumanized nature of machines (mécanique). The third piece is Vito Žuraj’s (*1979) ›Hors d’œuvre‹, in which the award-winning chef and passionate percussionist Daniel Gottschlich from Cologne supports the Ensemble not only by using pots, spoons and whisks, but also with the (amplified) noises of cutting vegetables that the score demands.

At 9 pm, the evening continues with Alva Noto’s ›Xerrox Vol. 4 – Ensemble Modern Version‹. In 2021, Carsten Nicolai aka Alva Noto arranged the fourth part of his ›Xerrox‹ series, producing an ensemble version commissioned by the festival Frankfurter Positionen. In Rome, it will be performed for a live audience for the first time. The multi-media work, which combines music with video and light installations, deals with the manipulation of data (melodies) by means of infinite reproduction. This method consists of making copies of copies, whose sounds are altered to such an extent that they can hardly be associated any longer with the original material. ›Xerrox Vol. 4‹ will also be performed at Prague Sounds on November 8, 2023.