Ensemble Contrechamps

Ensemble Contrechamps from Geneva will dedicate its concert to Italian composer Stefano Gervasoni and paint a portrait that also comprises a view of influences and counterpoints. The evening will be opened by Tracasseries, a quasi-performative piece by Franco-Swiss composer Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, whose works focus on the touching and playing of and the production of sound on the “instrument” as an object. The piece will be followed by Gervasoni’s Least Bee and Godspel, based on texts by Emily Dickinson and Philip Levine. Both works stand for an aspect of Stefano Gervasoni’s creations that the composer himself has described as follows:

“I like a kind of music that is not too obvious, that does not impose on us an aesthetic programme and does not exhibit its complexity, but that contains a high degree of ambiguity. The theatrical side to my music does not show openly but is rather revealed in intricate details.”

Klaus Huber’s Schattenblätter, dedicated to Marek Kopelent, combines Gervasoni’s text-based pieces with his composition Epicadenza. The piece is centred on the drums, the other instruments are subtly incorporated in to the drums’ sonic reverberations.