Later this month
the MaerzMusik 2010 festival will take over Berlin for eleven days, from 19 -
28 March, in what promises to be an exhilarating display of the latest in
contemporary music and sound art.
The theme of this year's festival is Utopia [Lost]. Challenging the now-pervasive perception of utopia as a vulgar and empty conceit, Utopia [Lost] will present a wide array of works in which music may be seen to offer not only an index of times and traditions past, but also the redemptive promise of new possibilities and alternative historical realities.
An especial highlight of MaerzMusik 2010's programme is the plethora of stage works being aired. The festival opens with a new production of Luci mie traditrici, Salvatore Sciarrino's opera based on the infamous murder by sixteenth-century composer Gesualdo of his wife and her lover. The work will be directed by Rebecca Horn, with the challenging whispering score given over to the Klangforum Vienna, conducted by Beat Furrer. Also taking place is the eagerly-anticipated unveiling of a new stage work by Furrer himself, Wüstenbuch, a co-production with Theater Basel that will here receive its German premiere. There are also new stage works by Italian composer Lucia Ronchetti – Der Sonne entgegen ('Towards the Sun') – Swiss composer Mela Meierhans – Rithaa – ein Jenseitsreigen II, which draws inspiration from laments and death rituals in Arab culture – and François Sarhan, who has collaborated with artist William Kentridge on Telegrams from the Nose, a work referencing Gogol's short story as well as Shostakovitch’s opera based on it, and which will be performed by Ictus.
Other highlights
of MaerzMusik this year include premieres of works by Olga Neuwirth, Sciarrino,
Barbara Monk Feldman and others; a concert by Zurich's Collegium Novum; the
Arditti Quartet taking on recent works by Ferneyhough and Dufourt; a
performance of Frederic Rzewski's immense solo piano work The People United Will
Never Be Defeated!, given by American pianist Heather O'Donnell; and an
imposing orchestral concert, which will feature the Staatskapelle Weimar
conducted by Heinz Holliger playing works by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Thomas
Kessler and Holliger himself.
In addition, a varied programme of events encompassing sound art, experimental music, multi-media works and sound installations will be held in the Sonic Arts Lounge. Prime among these is a performance by the John Butcher Group that is not to be missed.
All in all it makes for a cracking week and a half of music, and one which, if you're in the vicinity, you could do well worse than dip your toe into.
Tickets for Maerzmusik 2010 can be purchased here, on the festival’s website, which also features full information on the festival as well as a programme of events.
By Liam Cagney
Photos courtesy of MaerzMusik
Related articles:
CD review: Sciarrino orchestral works on Kairos
Concert review: New York's Contra Culture perform Furrer in Dublin
DVD review: Olga Neuwirth's Music for Films, featuring Klangforum Vienna