Kaoko Amano performs ‘Seven Impressions’ at the Klangspuren Festival

PILGRIMAGE STOP V

6 p.m., Pfarrkirche Hl. Josef, Itter

HOMMAGE À JOAN LA BARBARA
Joan La Barbara Circular Song for voice (1975)
Pia Palme Three Noises for voice & electronic playback [Homage to Morton Feldman and Joan La Barbara] (2017) WP
Anahita Abbasi Seven Impressions for voice and percussion (2017) WP
Joan La Barbara The River Also Changes for two voices, chamber ensemble and ‚sonic atmosphere’ (2017) UA

This year’s pilgrimage makes six concert stops: from Hintergranderhof, the large and dignified lodge near St. Johann in Tirol, via Going (Nomen est omen!), Ellmau, Söll, and Itter, to Bruckhäusl. With a distance of roughly 25 km, it is a vigorous though mostly (gently) downhill hike through a magnificent wide-open landscape. The guide is once again the Way of St. James expert Peter Lindenthal along with his trusty canine assistant Arvo. The event begins with a musical wake-up call entitled Spleen III: a (bass) clarinet solo by the Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth. In Itter the members of the Schallfeld Ensemble will perform a composition by the Viennese composer Pia Palme, Vom Rausch im Schwarm, specifically the version with a real wind machine. The Vienna-based vocalist/performer Claudia Cervenca conceived a homage to Joan La Barbara for her 70th birthday, which will be played at the Ellmau parish church in the morning and in Itter in the afternoon. The American artist is one of the major pioneers of extended vocal techniques; she has made a name for herself internationally as an interpreter of her own works as well as of those by the New York School around John Cage and Morton Feldman. For the homage, four composers based in Austria, Anahita Abbasi, Elisabeth Harnik, Pia Palme, and Claudia Cervenca, were commissioned to write short new works, which Claudia Cervenca, augmented to some extent by electronic sound material and individual instruments, will be performing for the first time. Joan La Barbara herself will be performing two of her works for solo voice, and in conclusion she will perform the world premiere of her new work The River Also Changes with Claudia Cervenca and the Schallfeld Ensemble.

In the parish church in Söll the Vorarlberg composer and organist Alexander Moosbrugger will for the first time perform the complete cycle La Fleur Inverse with its new part Stanza. The individual movements make reference to various works and forms of baroque music. Moosbrugger augments this world premiere by improvising to the then popular melody Est-ce Mars, on which Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck wrote famous organ variations.

After a frugal meal of pilgrim’s soup, deliciously prepared by the women of Slow Food Tirol, the Tyrol-born, Vienna-based composer, sound artist, and media archaeologist Elisabeth Schimana along with TENM – Tiroler Ensemble für Neue Musik will perform the closing concert. The world premiere of the commissioned work virus #3.2 calls for the five musicians to act as acoustic shadows, following Schimana’s lead as closely as possible and playing back on their instruments the electronic sounds Schimana produces.

For medical reasons Claudia Cervenca unfortunately cancelled her participation at the musical pilgrimage. Alternatively the Japanese singer Kaoko Amano wll perform the world premiere of the hollow ear by Elisabeth Harnik, Three Noises – ohne zu denken singt sie nicht by Pia Palme and Seven Impressions by Anahita Abbasi. The composer and vocalist Jamilia Jazylbekova from Kasachstan, living in Germany, will perform her own work Voci for voice, baritone saxophone and prerecorded sounds and will sing the second voice at the world premiere performance of The River Also Changes by and with Joan La Barbara.