Livestream Video | Afro-Modernism
Afro-Modernism in Contemporary Music
Concert with the Ensemble Modern
Planking in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele during the first phase of renovation in 2010 © Berliner Festspiele, photo: Kordula Rüter
This concert by the Ensemble Modern features a programme curated by the New York composer and trombonist George E. Lewis, a renowned authority on the multifarious works of composers of colour.
The protracted silence within avantgarde music that surrounds composers of the African diaspora provides the starting point for this concert project curated by the American musician, composer and academic George Lewis. With works by Alvin Singleton, Tania León, Daniel Kidane, Andile Khumalo, Hannah Kendall and Jessie Cox the musicians of the Ensemble Modern under conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni open up a panorama of music from the African diaspora that is more significant than ever in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Concert Programme
Hannah Kendall
Verdala
for ensemble (2018)
Jessie Cox
Existence lies In-Between
for ensemble (2017)
Daniel Kidane
Foreign Tongues
for string quartet (2015)
Alvin Singleton
Again
for ensemble (1979)
Andile Khumalo
Invisible Self
for piano and large ensemble (2020)
Tania León
Indígena
for large chamber ensemble (1991)
Cast
Vimbayi Kaziboni – conductor
Ueli Wiget – piano
George Lewis – curator
Ensemble Modern
Dietmar Wiesner – Flute
Christian Hommel – Oboe
Jaan Bossier – Clarinet
Johannes Schwarz – Bassoon
Andy Saunders – Horn
Sava Stoianov – Trumpet
Uwe Dierksen – Trombone
David Haller – Percussion
Jagdish Mistry – Violin
Giorgos Panagiotidis – Violin
Megumi Kasakawa – Viola
Eva Böcker – Cello
Michael Maria Kasper – Cello
Paul Cannon – Double Bass
Ensemble Modern is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the City of Frankfurt, the German Ensemble Academy, the Hessen State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts. The Ensemble Modern musicians thank the Aventis Foundation for financing a chair in their ensemble. hr2-kultur is Ensemble Modern’s cultural affairs partner.