Concert & Dance Performance

Contemplations into the Radical Others: To Everybody Out There

Ensemble Musikfabrik / Erick Hawkins Dance Company / Katherine Duke / Edivaldo Ernesto / Lucia Dlugoszewski / Elena Rykova

Lucia Dlugoszewski and Erick Hawkins © Library of Congress

Joined by Katherine Duke, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, dancer Edivaldo Ernesto and further dancers cast from an open call, Ensemble Musikfabrik concludes the two-part project “Contemplations into the Radical Others” on the work of Lucia Dlugoszewski for the closing concert of MaerzMusik 2024.

The conclusion of the two-part presentation of “Contemplations into the Radical Others” serves as a contemplation for the finale of this year’s edition of MaerzMusik. Ensemble Musikfabrik joins forces with choreographer Katherine Duke, members of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, choreographer Edivaldo Ernesto and dancers based in Berlin who were selected following an open call by MaerzMusik. With “Tender Theater Flight Nagerie” from 1978 for a small ensemble and “Disparate Stairway Radical Other” from 1995, immersive works by Dlugoszewski will be reinterpreted or reconstructed in a collaboration by the ensemble, Duke and Ernesto. This is rounded off by a commissioned work by composer Elena Rykova and a new version of “Space Is a Diamond” from 1970 for solo trumpet – accompanied by Ernesto, who lives in Berlin.

“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. Dlugoszewskis 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.

Programme

Lucia Dlugoszewski
Depth Duende Scarecrow Other: Symphony for Seven Instruments (1996)

Space is a Diamond (1970)
for trumpet solo, with a choreography by Edivaldo Ernesto

Disparate Stairway Radical Other (1995)
for string quartet with dance, choreographed by Katherine Duke

Elena Rykova
A Sonic Corona to a Song Eclipsed (UA 2024)
Commissioned by MaerzMusik, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Lucia Dlugoszewski
Tender Theater Flight Nageire (1978)
for brass quintet and orchestra of invented percussion instruments, with a choreography by Edivaldo Ernesto

Cast

Ensemble Musikfabrik
Gregor A. Mayrhofer
 conductor

Katherine Duke – choreography
Edivaldo Ernesto – choreography
Thomas Wegnersound design

Related events

Presentation: Contemplations into the Radical Others
Wednesday 20.3., 18:30–19:15, Radialsystem

Concert: Contemplations into the Radical Others: Music for the Left Ear
Wednesday 20.3., 20:00–22:30, Radialsystem

Conversation, Reading & Listening Sessions: Contemplations into the Radical Others: Laboratory Part 1
Thursday 21.3., 12:00 – 15:30, Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Conversation, Reading & Listening Sessions: Contemplations into the Radical Others: Laboratory Part 2
Saturday 23.3., 12:00 – 15:30, Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Conversation, Reading & Listening Sessions: Contemplations into the Radical Others: Laboratory Part 3
Sunday 24.3., 12:00 – 15:30, Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Concert & Dance Performance: Contemplations into the Radical Others: Exacerbated Movement
Sunday 24.3., 17:00 – 18:00, Haus der Berliner Festspiele