Péter Eötvös and the Musikfabrik Köln

17 September 2019, Tuesday
7:30 pm — 10 pm

    Alex Nante: Rite eu jeu - world première of the instrumental ensemble version
    Péter Eötvös: Secret Kiss - German-language première for female Japanese narrator and instrumental ensemble to text from Alessandro Baricco's novel Silk selected by Mari Mezei
    Malika Kishino-Naki Ryu: Flutter Echo for solo oboe - world première
    Péter Eötvös: Sonata per sei - for three pianos and three percussion instruments

A substantive criterion in compiling the concerts to be given by the Artist of the Season is to make certain that the three programmes reveal the musician's versatility to the greatest degree possible. In the case of Péter Eötvös, this could not be easier: the composer is also a conductor who, in addition to acquainting the audience with his own works, is also fond of introducing them to compositions by young composers.
Ever since its foundation in 1990, Musikfabrik Köln has been one of the most significant contemporary music ensembles in the international arena. Over the course of its existence thus far, this group consisting of wind and string soloists, as well as pianists, has collaborated with the widest possible scope of composers, ranging from Karlheinz Stockhausen, Georg Friedrich Haas and Mauricio Kagel to Louis Andriessen, Harrison Birtwistle and Wolfgang Rihm, with a preference for innovative-minded artists - and making similar choices in terms of conductors, directors and choreographers.
Eötvös himself has always been, and remains, one of the ensemble's partners. At his joint concert with Musikfabrik Köln, he will conduct two of his own works and two compositions by other contemporary composers. Of the two works, the melodrama Secret Kiss, composed for five instruments and a narrator, is a new piece, completed in 2018, while Sonata per sei, conceived for three keyboard instruments and three percussionists, dates from 2006. The substantive element that both pieces share is the application of an experimental way of thinking.
The common characteristic of the composers of the other two works in the programme is their youthfulness, and this reminds us of a newer important aspect - alongside composing and conducting - of Eötvös's work: embracing young talents as a mentor.

Conductor: Péter Eötvös

Featuring:
narrator    Ryoko Aoki