Three works offer completely different constellations between composers, soloists, and orchestra. Pascale Criton’s essay on otherness is reflected in the iridescent relationship between soprano and instruments. George Lewis confronts Roscoe Mitchell and the orchestra with an AI soloist, continuing his decades-long occupation with the artistic potential of AI. Simon Steen-Andersen asks an existing ensemble, Yarn/Wire, to face the orchestra and sets himself a sonic challenge after ten years of working with film and music theatre: no video, no multimedia, only instruments and electronics.
Juliet Fraser soprano
Roscoe Mitchell saxophone
Yarn/Wire
Russell Greenberg, Sae Hashimoto percussions
Julia Den Boer, Laura Barger keyboards
SWR Symphonieorchester
Susanne Blumenthal direction
Dionysios Papanicolaou Ircam electronics
Jérémie Bourgogne Ircam sound diffusion
Simon Steen-Andersen grosso, for amplified quartet, Leslie speaker and orchestra, commissioned by SWR, Radio France, Ircam-Centre Pompidou, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, with the support of de la Fondation Pierre Boulez, world premiere
Pascale Criton Alter, for soprano et orchestra, Germany premiere
George Lewis The Reincarnation of Blind Tom, double concert for saxophone, virtual piano and orchestra, commissioned by SWR, world premiere