FAMA
Theatre for the ears
5 — 7 Feb 2015
Three widely divergent sound worlds rub shoulders in this concert given by Asko|Schönberg in collaboration with Cappella Amsterdam: the ethereal microtones of the avant-gardist György Ligeti, the contemporary folk music of the young Serbian Djuro Zivkovic and the agitated monodrama FAMA by the Swiss composer Beat Furrer.
Ligeti has claimed to be immune to all forms of ideology, so he was amused when his sacred choral work Lux aeterna became the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. In contrast, the book that Zivkovic set to music, the Eastern Orthodox Philokalia, testifies to a passionate faith with love as its underlying foundation. In FAMA Furrer delves into the cynical world of the dramatist Arthur Schnitzler: marriage as an unpaid form of prostitution. This ‘theatre for the ears’ is one of the most celebrated and frequently performed works of the 21st century. Die Zeit referred to it as ‘a miracle’ and Le Monde extolled it as ‘a work of unusual beauty’. On the Guarding of the Heart by the young Serbian Djuro Zivkovic, winner of the 2014 Grawemeyer Award, is described by the composer himself as ‘an instrumental cantata inspired by Bach’s religious music.’
The performance of FAMA is financially supported by Pro Helvetia
Artists
GYÖRGY LIGETI
Lux aeterna
DJURO ZIVKOVIC
On the Guarding of the Heart
BEAT FURRER
FAMA – Hörtheater in acht Szenen für großes Ensemble *)
ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
CAPPELLA AMSTERDAM
conductor Christian Karlsen
actress Mira Tscherne
double bass flute Eva Furrer
scenography Theun Mosk
*) © Alkor Edition, Kassel / Albersen Verhuur B.V., ‘s-Gravenhage