MUSEUM OF UNCOUNTED VOICES

Marina Davydova (theater critic,

concert

Performers:
Maja Bader, soprano
Leonhard Dering, piano

Nicholas Isherwood, bass-baritone
Marina Khorkova, piano
Program curator: Sergej Newski
Supported by: AFF Projects

Maja Bader / Leonhard Dering / Nicholas Isherwood

Language:

Duration: 120 min

Sun 15 Oct 2023, 17:00

Tickets

Boris Filanovsky's "ob aus Luft" cycle, drawn from the poetic texts of Maria Stepanova (recipient of the Leipzig Book Fair Prize, 2022), paints an emotional landscape of loss, where each item resonates as a remnant of a departed beloved. This thirty-minute opus intertwines moments of calm with bursts of expression. The young Swiss duo, pianist Leonhard Dering and soprano Maja Bader, bring an animated, heartfelt rendition to this narrative.

In the concert's second half, the esteemed bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood artfully combines John Cage's early compositions with more contemporary compositions, some emanating from the post-Soviet tapestry. This musical journey stretches from the nuanced tones of Artyom Kim (Uzbekistan) and Eka Chabashvili (Georgia), to the evocative strains of Helena Tulve (Estonia). These diverse tonal articulations culminate in a luminous cosmos of advanced vocal techniques and theatrical flourishes, seamlessly and artfully performed by Isherwood who crafts an unparalleled musical-theatrical spectacle.

Boris Filanovsky:
Ob aus Luft, a vocal cycle for soprano and piano after poems by Maria Stepanova (2021)

Georgian traditional:
Urumli (trans. by Nicholas Isherwood),

John Cage:
The wonderful Widow of 18 springs, for voice and closed piano (1942)

Imants Mežaraups:
Aizver Actinas, for baritone solo (1990)

Marina Khorkova:
Duo for Bass-Baritone and Multiphonic Piano

John Cage:
A Flower, for voice and closed piano (1950)

Eka Chabashvili:
A Hunger Artist after Franz Kafka, for baritone solo (2021) Helena Tulve: “Sonajalad”, ritornello II and III (2013)

John Cage:
“Nowth upon Nacht” for voice solo (1984)

Artyom Kim:
“Earth Music” — for solo voice and a cow bell (2005)

What is national culture? To what extent is it aligned with the geographical boundaries formally associated with it in people's minds? Can it exist independently of language, detached from the local references that resonate with an audience? Can one even discuss performing arts within the framework of national cultures, or have they long existed within a broader cosmopolitan realm? In light of recent political events, these questions have gained sudden relevance. Perhaps never before in recent history have so many people connected to the arts become instant exiles, refugees, and emigrants, seeking to rediscover themselves beyond their homeland's borders, in various countries and circumstances. The Voices Festival offers a new perspective on contemporary culture through the lens of this novel existence of artists, directors, choreographers, and composers. The main part of its program showcases Russian-speaking voices that vividly reflect this new trend. Voices, on one hand, focusses on individuals rather than group identities; each voice in this program is all the more precious, the more unique their individual experiences are from one another. On the other hand, it raises the question: can representatives of culture living in dispersion maintain themselves as a unified mental entity, as an extraterritorial phenomenon, detached from their roots without losing their distinctiveness?

MARINA DAVIDOVA
theater critic, playwright,
VOICES advisory board member

What is national culture? To what extent is it aligned with the geographical boundaries formally associated with it in people's minds? Can it exist independently of language, detached from the local references that resonate with an audience? Can one even discuss performing arts within the framework of national cultures, or have they long existed within a broader cosmopolitan realm? In light of recent political events, these questions have gained sudden relevance. Perhaps never before in recent history have so many people connected to the arts become instant exiles, refugees, and emigrants, seeking to rediscover themselves beyond their homeland's borders, in various countries and circumstances. The Voices Festival offers a new perspective on contemporary culture through the lens of this novel existence of artists, directors, choreographers, and composers. The main part of its program showcases Russian-speaking voices that vividly reflect this new trend. Voices, on one hand, focusses on individuals rather than group identities; each voice in this program is all the more precious, the more unique their individual experiences are from one another. On the other hand, it raises the question: can representatives of culture living in dispersion maintain themselves as a unified mental entity, as an extraterritorial phenomenon, detached from their roots without losing their distinctiveness?

MARINA DAVIDOVA
theater critic, playwright,
VOICES advisory board member