Decoder Ensemble

Ensemble!

Ensemble Musikfabrik

French composer Pierre Boulez and American composer Elliott Carter first met in Paris in the early 1950s and formed a lifelong friendship. Ensemble Musikfabrik and Bas Wiegers commemorate these two important modern composers with iconic pieces of contemporary music. Clarinetist Carl Rosman takes center stage in Boulez's 'Domaines', exploring space in dialogue with five instrumentalists. Carter's 'Double Concerto' features a musical conversation between two chamber orchestras, with soloists Benjamin Kobler (harpsichord) and Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano).

Decoder Ensemble

The Decoder Ensemble is one of the most bold and original representatives of the international New Music scene. With its high-energy sound, the ensemble thrills audiences in prestigious concert halls as well as in clubs such as Berlin’s Berghain. For several years, Decoder hosted the Elbphilharmonie’s »Below Deck« series, in which they presented fascinating performance evenings with a range of very different guest artists.

Decoder Ensemble

The Decoder Ensemble always moves with the times – or is a bit ahead of it. As a »Band for New Music«, the six musicians are regular guests at the Elbphilharmonie with a wide variety of projects. »Future Recognition« explores the possibilities of artificial intelligence in music and art as part of the Hamburg International Music Festival, which takes place in 2025 under the theme of the »Future«. All works on this evening experiment with AI and are for the most part premieres by international young composers for whom working with AI is almost second nature. Creative potential or risk to people and their identity? Alexander Schubert is both ensemble member and composer. With his piece »Holo_Acid.MOV (CRYPT-File)«, he raises further key questions: lyrics, sounds and videos in this multimedia work are without exception AI generated. Since its premiere in 2021, production techniques have rapidly improved and streamlined – what does this short half-life mean for artistic creation? Multimedia artist Denis Polec has been commissioned to refine the visual part of this composition using AI.

Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Nils Mönkemeyer / Kent Nagano

The Russian composer Vladimir Tarnopolski is certainly no stranger to contemporary music. His works have been performed at many major festivals over recent decades. He has received various prizes and released many of his works on CD. As a professor of composition at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he has also passed on his knowledge to a whole generation of young composers. »Im Dunkel vor der Dämmerung« (»In the Dark before Dawn«) is the title of a new work commissioned by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and premiered in this concert. »Sinfonia Eroica« was the title Ludwig van Beethoven gave his third symphony in 1804, a »heroic symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man«. Whether or not this »great man« was to be little Napoleon? At first it was, in all likelihood. But Beethoven probably decided to leave out any corresponding dedication, since the Corsican’s personal coronation as emperor was, in the composer’s eyes, a bitter betrayal of the republican ideas of the French Enlightenment. Was Beethoven himself perhaps the hero? An innovator in the context of music history? Whatever the answer, he certainly breaks new ground with his »Eroica«.

Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra / Nils Mönkemeyer / Kent Nagano

The Russian composer Vladimir Tarnopolski is certainly no stranger to contemporary music. His works have been performed at many major festivals over recent decades. He has received various prizes and released many of his works on CD. As a professor of composition at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, he has also passed on his knowledge to a whole generation of young composers. »Im Dunkel vor der Dämmerung« (»In the Dark before Dawn«) is the title of a new work commissioned by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra and premiered in this concert. »Sinfonia Eroica« was the title Ludwig van Beethoven gave his third symphony in 1804, a »heroic symphony composed to celebrate the memory of a great man«. Whether or not this »great man« was to be little Napoleon? At first it was, in all likelihood. But Beethoven probably decided to leave out any corresponding dedication, since the Corsican’s personal coronation as emperor was, in the composer’s eyes, a bitter betrayal of the republican ideas of the French Enlightenment. Was Beethoven himself perhaps the hero? An innovator in the context of music history? Whatever the answer, he certainly breaks new ground with his »Eroica«.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Stefan Asbury

Born in Teheran, Sara Abazari is one of today’s leading voices in her country’s contemporary music. Her two latest compositions, which were recently premiered in the Berlin Philharmonie and the Konzerthaus, are directly connected with the movement »Woman, Life, Freedom« and the prominent role of women in Iran. »in solidum« is a piece that was premiered in its first version in autumn 2023; the new, large-scale orchestral work by the composer, who studied in Cologne and Vienna, is now being performed by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. With Galina Ustwolskaja (1919-2006), the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra preesents one of the 20th century’s most uncompromising composers after the interval. Ms Ustwolskaja gained a reputation for her visionary and always highly unusual combinations of instruments: »Dies irae« is scored for eight double basses, piano and a large, resonant wooden block, which the percussionist beats with enigmatic hammer blows. Performances of the work produce the picture, precisely calculated by the composer, of an archaic ritual that evokes a set of metaphors between death, protest and apotheosis: this is a »breakthrough piece«, a musical onslaught on all conventional boundaries, and indisputably Ustwolskaja’s most famous work. The evening opens with Edgar Varèse’s virtuoso piece »Intégrales« for wind instruments and percussion, one of the founding documents of 20th century music. Written for the avant-garde »International Composers’ Guild«, which was founded in 1921 by Carlos Salzedo and Varèse himself, »Intégrales« was given its first performance in March 1925 in New York’s Aeolian Hall.

Eisler!

Pablo Heras-Casado & Anja Petersen

Jüri Reinvere is the third leading composer of his native Estonia, alongside Arvo Pärt and Erkki-Sven Tüür. He is also an accomplished concert pianist, lyric poet, journalist and essayist for newspapers in Estonia, Finland, Great Britain and Germany, where he has been living since 2005. Given this cosmopolitan life, it comes as no surprise that his music focuses on theological themes as well as touching on politics, history, and episodes from daily life. Arnulf Herrmann’s newly commissioned Tour de Trance draws inspiration from the verses of poetess and essayist Monika Rinck. His interest in language in all its guises has long stood in the foreground of his music. His special way of handling melody, rhythm and diction poses extraordinary challenges for the singer – challenges that soprano Anja Petersen is happy to confront.