The »Happy New Ears« series continues this season with four concerts to open people's ears to contemporary music - John Cage's New Year's wish, adopted by Ensemble Modern for these wonderful workshop concerts.
The venues for these events are Oper Frankfurt, the Bockenheimer Depot or the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt; two of them under the umbrella of the ICCS' »curtain call« initiative for young composers.
March 7 2023 Potrait: Heiner Goebbels
Heiner Goebbels is a famous fixture in cultural life in Frankfurt. A musician, composer, writer of plays for the radio, director and creator of multi-media installations, he has long been one of the leading artists of our times. He has taught at the University of Gießen's Institute of Applied Theatre Sciences for a long time, where he holds the post of the new Georg Büchner professorship, and served as President of Hessen's Theatre Academy for many years. While intendant of the Ruhrtriennale from 2012–2014 he oversaw many interesting and important projects including productions of John Cage's Europeras 1 + 2 and Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury. He featured in Kassel's documentas in 1982, 1987 and 1997.
He has worked with the Ensemble for many years too. After his operatic work Schwarz auf Weiß / Black on White, composed and devloped with the Ensemble Modern in 1996, and performed more than 80 times around the world, was performed in the Bockenheimer Depot last November, this portrait concert is a slightly late 70th birthday present for Heiner Goebbels. There is no conductor but you can hear the actor David Bennent, who Heiner Goebbels has worked with for a long time, taking part in Liberté d’Action (world premiere 2021).
This is preceded byHerakles 2 and Red Run; the second piece a concert version of a ballet originally performed by the EM and dancers from William Forsythe's Ballett Frankfurt, choreographed by Amanda Miller.
Programme
Herakles 2 for five brass players, percussion and sampler (1991)
Nacht (Night), from: Liberté d'Action – staged concert with texts by Henri Michaux (2021)
