DIABELLI MACHINES # 5

A project by MusicExperiment21 | Orpheus Institute Gent

Ensemble-in-residence | 28 March – 5 April 2016 | Orpheus Institute Gent

Inspired by Gilles Deleuze’s Logic of Sense (1969) and Difference and Repetition (1968), by William Kindermans’s essay Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations (1987), and by Michel Butor’s Dialogue avec 33 variations de Ludwig van Beethoven sur une valse de Diabelli (1971), the Diabelli Machines project exposes Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations op. 120 to several musical encounters, letting other times and styles interfere with Beethoven, and making unconnected connections happen. In the time frame of the original piece diverse techniques of elimination, suppression, substitution and replacement are used. Alongside interventions from other times and styles, including composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Cramer, to which Beethoven openly related, new pieces were especially composed for this particular instantiation of the project.

The Diabelli Machines #5 is the first outcome of a collaboration between ME21 and Ensemble Interface, including new pieces by L. D’Errico (WP), P. Galli, D. Gorton, T. Manca, J. Parra C. and B. Vanhechke. This collaboration was preceded by a two weeks long residency of the Ensemble Interface at the Orpheus Institute, including rehearsals, brainstorming sessions, and meetings with other composers towards future developments of the project.

April 5th, 2016 | 19:30 | Orpheus Institute

Diabelli Machines #5, after Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations op. 120
Concept: Paulo de Assis
New works by L. D’Errico (WP), P. Galli, D. Gorton, T. Manca, J. Parra C., B. Vanhechke

Ensemble Interface
Bettina Berger, flutes
Niels Hap, clarinets
Christophe Mathias, cello
Marieke Berendsen, violin
Anna D’Errico, piano
Agnieszka Koprowska-Born, percussion

ME21 Collective
Paulo de Assis, piano, conducting, and artistic direction
Lucia D’Errico, guitar and video projection
Juan Parra C., live electronics

Kurt Dreyer, staging
Benjamin Widmer, baritone
Katalin Dreyer, light

Bios

Paulo de Assis is a trained concert pianist and musicologist with wider interests in composition and philosophy. As an artist-researcher he is the Principal Investigator of the European Research Council funded project Music Experiment 21, which challenges orthodox definitions of musical works and their renderings. Active as a soloist and pianist-conductor, he authored two books (on the music of Luigi Nono and Camillo Togni) and edited eight others (on music notation, contemporary music, and experimental practices). He is a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.

ME21 Collective is composed of artist researchers involved in the project MusicExperiment21, coordinated and directed by Paulo de Assis. The collective thus includes musicians, performers, composers, dancers, actors, and philosophers without having any standard or even stable formation. ME21 Collective’s modes of communication include conventional formats such as concerts and installations but also lectures, publications, and web expositions.

Kurt Dreyer, Lucerne. Formed in classical and contemporary dance techniques, T’ai chi Ch’uan, Alexander Technique and choreography in Lausanne and London. Freelance pedagogue since 1974 as well as tutor at different music academies – Berne, Basel, Lucerne and University of Bern. Guest teaching in Europe and Asia in rhythmical bodywork, placement, stage orientated movement for musicians and singers, dance technique, improvisation and scenic structuring. Numerous dance pieces, performances in museums and galleries as well as stage directions.