Breaking Boundaries

The history of new music, now one hundred years old, could also be described as a continuous search for new and unheard-of encounters with music. This goes far beyond the structure and semantics of what can be captured in notation. Currently, numerous composers are devoting their attention to the spatial context of music, which can never really be separated from it: by expanding the performance into the auditorium, positioning the ensemble or the (participating) audience differently, creating concert situations resembling installations or sound sculptures ... The American composer Ashley Fure (b. 1982), an award-winning voice in the current sound-art network, is developing ›Together Games‹ for twelve performers and ensemble together with the director Lilleth Glimcher [they/them]. The work is an immersive listening situation which integrates elements of performance, installation and spatial acoustic experience. In the midst is the audience, surrounding the centrally positioned performers with their custom-made megaphones – and the audience is in turn surrounded by Ensemble Modern.