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Duration: approx. 12′

Premiere on March 2, 2025 at the Musikakademie Basel, Switzerland.

Miriam Paschetta, harp
Ignat Khlobystin, flute
Rafael Esparrell, clarinet
Carmen Salguero Indias, saxophone
Angelo Vardabasso, double bass
Alexandre Silva, percussion

Duration: ca. 7 mins

Premiere on November 18, 2024 at the Basel Music Academy with Yunan Chen.

About the Piece:

This piece of music is based on my interest in a particular acoustic phenomenon: the influence of bow position on the sound quality of harmonics. If the bow is placed exactly at another node of the harmonic series of the harmonic played – which is usually avoided – it produces sounds that are difficult to be controlled. Depending on bow pressure, bow speed, the condition of the strings, the thickness of the string and the pitch of the harmonic, you can hear sounds ranging from multiphonics to extremely distorted timbres.

From this quasi one-note piece, several tones gradually emerge – initially microtonal deviations and octaves of the same tone. The long notes of the first part are slowly replaced by fast arpeggios, which substantially changes the character of the piece. The pitch range gradually expands. From the second part of the composition onwards, all notes consist of natural harmonics. Nevertheless, the original tone remains audible again and again and runs like a unifying element through the entire piece.

During the entire composition, every note is precisely notated and controlled – except for the very last moment. There, for the first time, I deliberately leave some freedom: the musician is asked to perform a certain action, but without specified pitches. This minor detail at the end is like a brief glance into the unknown – a subtle break in the midst of the strict rules.

Duration: ca. 24′

A composition commissioned by the “Festival of Resilience” for its fifth edition.
Premiere on 13.10.2024 with Else Ensemble and Valentin Lutset. In Freylinghausen-Saal, Halle (Saale), Germany.

About the piece:

This piece was commissioned by my friend Valentin Velvel Lutset for the “Festival of Resilience” five years after the racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic attack on the synagogue in Halle in 2019.

Here I deal with the psychological idea of resilience. After a trauma, it is often impossible for those affected to return to exactly the life they led before the devastating event. Resilience therefore does not mean a return to the old life, which no longer exists as such, but rather the ability to reinvent oneself, to create new realities and coping mechanisms. As survivor Mollie Sharfman once put it: “After almost three years, I realize that it is not possible to go back. Living with the consequences of someone else’s violence is my new reality.”

In the piece, a root chord forms the foundation of the composition. This chord undergoes a constant transformation, moving away from its original form and returning in a different one. This cyclical process is repeated several times over the course of the piece. The shofar – a ceremonial instrument of Judaism – takes on a solo role and marks the end of each such cycle. After the shofar solo, a new form of the root chord is always heard, which retains its identity despite all the variations. The role of the shofar here is similar to its importance in marking the new beginning in the Jewish calendar – Rosh Ha’shana. However, each new year does not simply signify a repetition, but the possibility of correcting mistakes, reinventing oneself, rethinking and overcoming the past. If you add the temporal dimension to the circle metaphor, the result is a spiral – and this also corresponds to the shape of the shofar.

Duration: ca. 5′

Premiere Shelly Ezra on 7.3.24 in Leipzig.

Duration: ca. 17′

Premiere on 16.02.2024 at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory by Fabrik Quartet (Violin: Federico Ceppetelli, Adam Woodward, Viola: Jacobo Diaz Robledillo and Violoncello: Elena Cappelletti)

Duration: ca. 7′

String section 6/5/5/5/4

The piece was commissioned by the Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main for the 75th anniversary of its re-founding for the Frankfurt Radio Symphony.

Premiere on 13.09.23 in the hr-Sendersaal under the direction of Jonathan Stockhammer.

From the Frankfurter Rundschau: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/juedische-gemeinde-frankfurt-die-zukunft-mitgestalten-92519894.html

Duration: ca. 19′

Premiere on 10.12.2022 by Ensemble Rot in E_Werk – Freiburg im Breisgau

Recording: Ensemble Rot (Nagisa Shibata, Nanae Kubo and Teresa Grebchenko) and Alexander Reiff. 16.02.24 at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory – Frankfurt am Main/Germany.

Duration approx. 12′

Premiere on 08.11.21 as part of the event “Remembering in Music – Two Generations Meet at the Philanthropin” on the occasion of the 83rd anniversary of the Pogrom Night.

At the I.E. Lichtigfeld School in the Philanthropin – Frankfurt am Main.

Hagit Halaf (violin)
Juval Langheim Halaf (trumpet)

Duration 37′

Premiere on March 5, 2019 in the KunstKulturKirche Allerheiligen (Frankfurt am Main)

Richard Millig (organ)

Stefanie Januschko (accordion)

Bálint Gyimesi (clarinet)

Silva Fedler (recorders)

Seohun Mun (double bass)

Marianne Kelm (violin)

• Patches for KlangBilder (Code by Richard Millig)

Duration approx. 9′

Premiere of the edited version: June 2019 at Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen – Denmark

Ben Malinowski (guitar)
Kendzsi Tanaka (harpsichord)

Duration approx. 15′

Premiere: 2019 at the HfMDK – Frankfurt am Main

Recording: 22. January 2020 at the HfMDK – Frankfurt am Main

Performers:
Claudia Warth (flute)
Yuri Jang (violin)
Jaume Cerdà i Martí (clarinet)
Manuel Fernandez (viola)
Roman Bozzetta (trombone)
Raquel Rivera Novillo (cello)
Lea Dussarrat (bassoon)
Enrique Rodríguez Yebra (double bass)
Minsung Kwon (conductor)

Duration approx. 7’30”

Premiere: 2018 at the HfMDK – Frankfurt am Main

Recording: 22. January 2020 at the HfMDK – Frankfurt am Main

Performers:
Claudia Warth (flute)
Yuri Jang (violin)
Jaume Cerdà i Martí (clarinet)
Manuel Fernandez (viola)
Roman Bozzetta (trombone)
Raquel Rivera Novillo (cello)
Lea Dussarrat (bassoon)
Enrique Rodríguez Yebra (double bass)
Minsung Kwon (conductor)

Duration: approx. 15′

Commissioned by Quarteto Atlântico

Premiere: 2016 in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil

Duration: approx. 8′

Commissioned by João Senna

Premiere: 2015 in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil