Concert

teeth

EnsembleKollektiv Berlin / Michelle Lou / Ashkan Behzadi / Helmut Lachenmann

Frontal X-ray of a human dentition.

teeth © Michelle Lou

Berlins EnsembleKollektiv mediates among different traditions, genres and disciplines. At MaerzMusik, they bring together works by Ashkan Behzadi, Helmut Lachenmann and Michelle Lou for a programme focussing on the body, space and their relationship to each other.

Ever since making their debut at MaerzMusik ten years ago, the EnsembleKollektiv have functioned as a cohesive musical unit that stands for artistic diversity. Four institutions of Berlins independent music scene – Ensemble Adapter, Sonar-Quartett, Ensemble Apparat and ensemble mosaik – have joined forces as a super-ensemble of sorts, acting as a mediator in a productive exchange across aesthetic boundaries and different musical traditions. The EnsembleKollektiv concert at this years MaerzMusik continues this principle. It will open with a work by composer Ashkan Behzadi: “Convex” for 13 musicians creates a complex, holistic soundscape from several discrete elements. This is followed by an interpretation of Helmut Lachenmann's piece “Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung)”, composed between 1983 and 1984. Lachenmanns examination of the bodys final physical movements before the onset of rigour mortis uses means of alienation and decomposition, repeatedly creating new moments of density and tension. Similarly, the music of Michelle Lou has a sculptural character. Her compositional interest primarily centres on the discursive potential of audio technology. For “teeth”, commissioned by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, she is working with a multi-channel system and using digital manipulation to pose questions of corporality and the mediation and alienation thereof.

Programme

Ashkan Behzadi
Convex (20192020)
for large ensemble of 13 players

Helmut Lachenmann
Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung) (1983–1984)
for ensemble

Michelle Lou
teeth (UA 2024)
Composition commissioned by EnsembleKollektiv, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.