Pulp Science

Founded in Vienna in 2014, the Black Page Orchestra creates radical and uncompromising music using acoustic and electronic sound production as well as intermediality. Coinciding with their tenth anniversary, the group is making their debut appearance at MaerzMusik, offering a programme as diverse as anything they’ve done so far. Among the works being performed is “Ghost of Dystopia” by Alexander Khubeev, in which gesturally controlled acoustic sensors play a key role, allowing the supposed dichotomies of soloist and collective to be questioned, while at the same time breaking up the traditional concert scenario. Also featured is “Halucinatio”, developed in collaboration with electronic composer Jung An Tagen (Stefan Juster), a piece that plays with otoacoustic emissions – sounds created individually in the listener’s inner ear – as well as “Journal” by Sarah Nemtsov for amplified instruments and sample keyboard. Two compositions by co-founders of the Black Page Orchestra will also be performed: The ensemble piece “Case Black” by Mirela Ivičević deals with the consequences of the Balkan wars using acoustic and electronic means, and in “Encyclopedia of Pitch and Deviation”, Matthias Kranebitter develops an alternative system of pitches starting with the resonant pitch of the earth’s surface, leading through the heart chakra up to the mosquito alarm. A wide-ranging approach that reflects the Black Page Orchestra’s ethos over the past decade, establishing new standards instead of sticking to conventions.