Contemplations into the Radical Others

“Contemplations into the Radical Others” is a research project on Lucia Dlugoszewski launched by MaerzMusik with Ensemble Musikfabrik, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Katherine Duke and Agnese Toniutti. After kicking off last year, the endeavour continues with a deeper exploration of the life and work of the composer, who died in 2000. Dlugoszewski, who was also active as a poet, studied with Edgard Varèse, Grete Sultan and John Cage in the late 1940s, impressed Arnold Schönberg with her piano playing and sought ways to create new sounds in her work on the prepared piano. She also designed over a hundred instruments, some of which have been reconstructed for “Contemplations into the Radical Others” by Musikfabrik member Thomas Meixner. Dlugoszewski’s exploration of the seemingly mundane as well as the radically different focussed on the immediacy of music. Not only did she work behind the scenes as a composer for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, she often performed poetically on stage next to the dancers. In collaboration with the Cologne-based Ensemble Musikfabrik, her work is brought to the fore with the same style in which she originally conceived it: as an expression of the freedom of sound, which in turn is meant to offer the audience moments of freedom. The ensemble is now presenting some of its pieces for the first time in Europe after painstakingly reconstructing the scores from existing recordings. In addition to a concert evening with Musikfabrik, three commissioned works in response to Dlugoszewski and a comprehensive laboratory that will thoroughly examine and discuss her music, sound and philosophy, the second part of “Contemplations into the Radical Others”, features performances by pianist Toniutti and choreographers Duke and Edivaldo Ernesto with members of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company along with Berlin-based dancers. Three commissioned works by Bethan Morgan-Williams, Mazyar Kashian and Elena Rykova will also be performed as part of the project, offering an artistic response to Dlugoszewski.