Kontraklang’s first film screening will take place in direct connection with the following performance of Ming Tsao’s chamber opera „Mirandas Atemwende“. Danièle Huillet und Jean Marie Straub’s „Schwarze Sünde“ (Black Sin) and Tsao’s opera share a late modernist form of expressionism, moving between abstraction and documentary-like authenticity. In both works the singers and actors respond with great focus to the the complex sound worlds that surround them.
„Mirandas Atemwende“ is a musical commentary on texts by Shakespeare, Paul Celan, and J.H. Prynne. At the same time it can be seen as a second act of Tsao’s opera „Die Geisterinsel“ – a setting of Shakespeare’s „The Tempest“ and W.F. Gotter’s „Die Geisterinsel“ from 1797. Tsao’s sonic language is characterized my the melting together of music and noise, and an advanced notation that challenges the performers. This unstaged premiere of the opera will be performed by Ensemble KNM Berlin.
http://https://youtu.be/RE17NM3Nauc
Ensemble KNM Berlin was founded in 1988 by Juliane Klein, Thomas Bruns, and other students at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. Today the group consists of eleven musicians from Germany, the UK, and Switzerland.
Ensemble KNM Berlin has presented compositions, concert-installations, and other concert projects worldwide, in close collaboration with composers, writers, conductors, artists, and directors. Since its founding, they have performed over 1000 events, and were awarded the German „Schallplattenkritik“ Prize in 2009 and 2010 for their work with the composer Beat Furrer.
http://https://youtu.be/UcpIe0uMXps
Ming Tsao is professor of composition at Gothenberg University, Sweden. He obtained his PhD at the University of California, San Diego, and holds MA degrees in ethnomusicology and mathematics from Columbia University and San Francisco State University. He also studied logic and philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Currently he is a guest professor at the Conservatory of Music, Theatre, and Media in Hannover. His opera „Die Geisterinsel“ was performed in 2011 by the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and his realization of Stockhausen’s „Plus Minus“ was peformed at the Wittener Musiktage in 2013. His music appears on the renowned label Kairos.
Kontraklang 10 w/ Ensemble KNM plays Ming Tsao’s “Mirandas Atemwende” + Film Screening “Schwarze Sünde”
Friday, 27 November 2015 | 20:00 CET
Heimathafen Neukölln | Karl-Marx-Straße 141 | 12043 Berlin/Neukölln
kontraklang.de | heimathafen-neukoelln.de
