cyprus cultural events - August 26-30 - FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Heidi Trautmann

August 26-30 - FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL 7/17/2009 Ariel Fantasy The Pharos ArtsFoundation is an NGO; if you want to learn more about them please look it up under its name on the internet. The Pharos Arts Foundation is proud to introduce the First International Contemporary Music Festival, the mission of which is to propagate the music of 20th and 21st centuries and showcase avant-garde compositions from all over the world. The First International Contemporary Music Festival will comprise five concerts between 26 and 30 August 2009. All concerts will be held at the Shoe Factory – the Foundation's recently established venue for intimate chamber concerts and ideal setting for contemporary music events, and start at 8:30 pm. Artistic Directors of the Festival are composer Evis Sammoutis, violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved and pianist Aaron Shorr. The concerts will also feature cellist Bridget MacRae, clarinettist Roger Heaton, flutist Nancy Ruffer and soprano Margarita Elia. Embracing a variety of musical styles, aesthetics and trends, this year's Festival will feature over 40 works by 38 composers. The exceptionally rich and diverse programme includes a number of classical 20th century masterpieces and Cyprus premiers from German composers Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hans Werner Henze and Helmut Lachenmann. FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FESTIVAL 26 – 30 August 2009 The Shoe Factory, Nicosia, 8:30pm Wednesday 26 August 2009 Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin) & Aaron Shorr (piano) Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926) 5 Nachtstěücke Michael Finnissy (b. 1946) Enek Mihailo Trandafilovski (b. 1974) Duo 1 Henry Cowell (1897-1965) The Banshee Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) Fratres for violin and piano Helmut Lachenmann (b. 1935) Toccatina György Ligeti (1923-2006) Piano Etudes: Fanfares and Arc-en-Ciel Evis Sammoutis (b. 1979) Taftophonia Paul Moravec (b. 1957) Ariel Fantasy Thursday 27 August 2009 Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin), Aaron Shorr (piano), Roger Heaton (clarinet) Anton Webern (1883-1945) 4 Pieces for violin and piano, Op. 7 Pierre Boulez (b. 1925) Domaines Alban Berg (1885-1935) 4 pieces for Clarinet and Piano Op. 5 György Kurtág (1885-1935) Hommage à Robert Schumann for clarinet, viola & piano, Op. 15d Thomas Simaku (b. 1958) A Due Sotti Voci Béla Bartók (1881-1945) Contrasts Friday 28 August 2009 Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin), Bridget Macrae (cello), Aaron Shorr (piano), Nancy Ruffer (flute), Roger Heaton (clarinet) Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) Density Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) Right Durations Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939) Curve with Plateau Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) Duo for Flute & Clarinet Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 47 Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) Charisma Anton Webern (1883-1945) Three Pieces for cello and piano, Op. 11 Elliot Carter (b. 1908) Enchanted Preludes for flute and cello Bruno Maderna (1920-1973) Dialodia for flute and violin Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) Histoire du soldat Suite Saturday 29 August 2009 Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin), Bridget Macrae (cello), Aaron Shorr (piano), Nancy Ruffer (flute), Roger Heaton (clarinet), Margarita Elia (soprano) Roger Marsh (b. 1949) A little Snow for solo voice (Text by Nicanor Parra) John Cage (1912-1992) 4'33” Augusta Read Thomas (b. 1964) Circle Around the Sun for piano trio Luciano Berio (1925-2003) O King George Crumb (b. 1929) Eleven Echoes of Autumn Claude Debussy (1862-1918) Fêtes galantes (En sourdine, Fantoches, Clair de Lune) Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) Sunday 30 August 2009 Peter Sheppard Skaerved (violin), Bridget Macrae (cello), Aaron Shorr (piano), Nancy Ruffer (flute), Roger Heaton (clarinet), Margarita Elia (soprano) Brian Ferneyhough (b. 1943) Superscriptio for solo piccolo Nigel Clarke (b. 1960) Pernambuco for solo violin Gérard Grisey (1946-1998) Charme for clarinet Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695-1764) Il Laberinto Armonico, facilis aditus, difficilis exitus Morton Feldman (1926-1987) Projections I for solo cello Evis Sammoutis (b. 1979) Air for solo flute JOHN CAGE (1912-1992) The Wonderful Widow of 18 Springs GEORGE CRUMB (b. 1929) Little Suite for Christmas Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1814-1865) Schubert's Der Erlkönig for solo violin IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) 3 pieces for clarinet György Ligeti (1923-2006)
Biographies of German Composers : Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) One of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries, Stockhausen is known for his ground-breaking work in electronic music, aleatory (controlled chance) in serial composition, and musical spatialization. He was a leading figure in the Darmstadt School , and his compositions and theories were and remain widely influential, not only on composers of art music, but also on jazz and popular-music artists. His works, composed over a period of nearly sixty years, eschew traditional forms. In addition to electronic music, they range from miniatures for musical boxes through worksor solo instruments, songs, chamber music, choral and orchestral music, to a cycle of seven full-length operas. His theoretical and other writings comprise ten large volumes. He received numerous prizes and distinctions for his compositions, recordings, and for the scores produced by his publishing company. Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926) An avowed Marxist and member of the Italian Communist Party, Henze has produced compositions honoring Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara. The librettist of his requiem for Che Guevara, titled Das Floß der Medusa (The Raft of Medusa), was among several people arrested at the 1968 Hamburg premiere for placing a red flag on the stage. Henze spent a year teaching in Cuba , though he later became disillusioned with Castro. His music is extremely varied in style, having been influenced at various times by atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, and jazz. Helmut Lachenmann (b. 1935) Lachenmann has referred to his compositions as Musique Concrète Instrumentale, implying a musical language that embraces the entire sound-world made accessible through unconventional playing techniques. According to the composer, this is music in which the sound events are chosen and organized so that the manner in which they are generated is at least as important as the resultant acoustic qualities themselves. Consequently those qualities, such as timbre and volume, do not produce sounds for their own sake, but describe or denote the concrete situation: listening, you hear the conditions under which a sound- or noise-action is carried out, you hear what materials and energies are involved and what resistance is encountered. His music is therefore primarily derived from the most basic of sounds, which through processes of amplification serve as the bases for extended works. His scores place enormous demands on performers, due to the plethora of techniques that he has invented for wind, brass and string instruments.