INTERNATIONAL ENSEMBLE
MODERN ACADEMY
The International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) represents a continuation of what has been Ensemble Modern’s main goal for 30 years – supreme quality, joy of performing, interdisciplinary projects and international orientation. Since its formation almost 30 years ago, the ensemble has been committed to close interaction with artists and their works. By gaining extensive and highly diversified knowledge of 20th/21st century music, EM has become a “memory of modern music”.
Committed to this spirit, IEMA is a dynamic place where young artists have the opportunity to learn, communicate, discuss, experiment and benefit from this memory in manifold ways. Thanks to funding from the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia and others, IEMA is able to offer a variety of programmes that focus on an arts-driven and arts-inspired dialogue between highly qualified students and distinguished personalities from the fields of art and culture. IEMA extends study grants to young musicians, composers, conductors and sound engineers, which allow them to work with members of Ensemble Modern for two semesters. Master classes were held since 2004 in Tokyo, at the Paxos Spring Festival in Greece and at KLANGSPUREN Schwaz Tirol.
KLANGSPUREN SCHWAZ TIROL
Since its foundation in 1993, the festival of contemporary music - KLANGSPUREN Schwaz Tirol has been annually taking place in September. The main objectives of the programme are to offer a professional and expandable platform for new music and to showcase its origins and pioneers in the western part of Austria. Moreover, KLANGSPUREN wants to support young musicians and composers by commissioning artistic works and enabling them to present their output to a wider audience. KLANGSPUREN thus provides a platform for innovative and challenging music projects, for visionaries and pioneers. KLANGSPUREN has been able to attract prestigious international partners that range from ensembles and orchestras, musicians and composers to festivals, music colleges and academies, galleries and literary institutions. The Transart Festival of Bolzano/Rovereto co-produces many performances; further co-operation partners include the Culture and Convention Centre Lucerne, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, MaerzMusik Berlin, the Oslo Contemporary Music Festival Ultima and many more.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2010
In 2010, the International Ensemble Modern Academy will take place for the 7th time within the framework of the festival of contemporary music - KLANGSPUREN Schwaz Tirol and remains one of the most successful projects of the festival. Year after year, the participation of such outstanding figures as Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, Benedict Mason or Wolfgang Rihm as well as the complex and firsthand interaction with members of Ensemble Modern motivate over 100 young musicians from all over the world to apply for this master class. The call for applications is specifically targeted toward young musicians in the final stages of their training. Together with the Ensemble Modern teachers, conductor Franck Ollu and Heinz Holliger, this year’s composer-in-residence, the pieces listed below will be rehearsed during the master class and performed in two concerts at the festival.
MUSIC IS ALWAYS THERE. DAY AND NIGHT. IT’S A PROBLEM OF QUANTITIES.
Heinz Holliger – oboist, conductor, composer
By Wolf Loeckle
“All musicians should have their say on political issues much more than they currently do”, Heinz Holliger contends, taking a position rarely assumed by musicians with the exception of Ensemble Modern. For “breaking things takes just days, building them needs decades”.
How seriously this witty, communicative, intelligent and sensitive musician from Basel (Switzerland) takes his convictions is not only evidenced by his work with Ensemble Modern, which in its turn was highly eloquent and controversial from the get-go. The Frankfurt-based ensemble developed models and structures that endowed abstract analysis with meaning and provided the music scene with a much-needed source of friction. From the very beginning, Ensemble Modern’s mission was to enlighten and educate.
“I cannot imagine humanity’s continued existence or survival without music.”
On that, Heinz Holliger fully agrees with Ensemble Modern. “I believe that the consciousness and brain of Homo sapiens were formed by sounds, noises. This led to the creation of language, and language led to the creation of music. If music is extinguished or reduced to meaningless babble, humanity won’t be able to survive”, Holliger adds. “We should fight to prevent this from happening. I think Hitler was greatly aided by the fact that people were afraid and thus looked away, and except for Karl Amadeus Hartmann (and perhaps another two or three who did not sully their hands) they all surrendered to the system in order to protect their existence or satisfy their ego. Especially at the outset, Hitler would have found himself in a much tighter spot if musicians had spoken up and said what needed to be said. In view of today’s worldwide financial crisis, culture must not become the first victim of budget cuts.”
This is one side of Holliger’s artistic vision. The other side is reflected by the composer, a disciple of Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez. ”I was lucky enough to meet Sándor Veress when I was still quite young, and I owe almost all of my musical experience to him. However, my later training with Pierre Boulez was very important, too. This was almost complementary, as everything was much more oriented along a vertical line, with a focus on accurate listening, orchestration, tone colour. In contrast, my training with Veress was dominated by precisely articulated, polyphonic technique. But period and melodic structure were important as well.” Holliger’s brilliant international career as an oboist took off after winning his first awards at international competitions in Geneva and Munich. As a conductor, Holliger has for years been co-operating with leading orchestras and ensembles.
“The unconscious is always active, always driving the creative impulse.”
Holliger’s compositions reflect life phases. While the earlier works are strongly influenced by his teachers, his later output is more consistently concerned with the themes of life and death. The overcoming of restrictive boundaries through both compositional technique and orchestration remains a characteristic of his scores even in his current, third phase by bonding with the intellectual and emotional worlds of Schumann, Hölderlin, Robert Walser, Paul Celan or Samuel Beckett and attaining its apex with the “Scardanelli Cycle”, which sets the words of Hölderlin’s last poems to music. Posited on the conflict between the individual and society, his music dramas are concerned with artists-outsiders who clearly stand for resistance against the violence and cruelty inherent in power structures. “In my compositions”, Holliger claims, “I am very conscious of my profession – after all, I’m a disciple of Veress and Boulez, I take everything very seriously. But I believe that thought processes actually do not account for much more than ten percent in composing. The unconscious is always active, always driving the creative impulse. For me, music has value only if both sides of the individual are constantly present. There is just good music and bad music. And every piece is reborn in every second of a performance, also because human consciousness is continuously changing. Even a repetition in the traditional sense becomes something else completely the second time around. It’s not a photo of the earlier exposition you only look at.”
Holliger has received numerous international awards for his intellectual work, musical performances and compositions as well as for his skill in communicating his art in clearcut and convincing language.
PROGRAMME
The final programme of the master class and the concerts will be scheduled
after the applications have been sighted, on the basis of the following pieces:
PROGRAMME I – CONCERT ON 11 SEPTEMBER 2010
Selection of
Heinz Holliger: Eisblumen (1985)
2 violins, 2 violas, 2 violoncellos, 1 double bass
Heinz Holliger: Ad Marginem (1983)
2 flutes, 2 clarinets, 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 violoncellos, 1 double bass / tape
György Kurtág: Quintet, op. 2 (1959)
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
Heinz Holliger: Quintet for piano and four wind players (1989)
Oboe (a. English horn), clarinet (a. bass clarinet), bassoon, horn, piano
Heinz Holliger: Ma’mounia for percussion solo und instrumental quintet (2002)
Percussion // flute, clarinet, horn, violoncello, piano
Anton Webern: Six Songs, op. 14 (1917-21)
Soprano // clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, violoncello
Sándor Veress: String Trio (1954)
Violin, viola, violoncello
Anton Webern: Two Songs, op. 8 (1954)
Soprano // clarinet, bass clarinet, horn, trumpet, piano, harp, violin, viola, violoncello
Heinz Holliger: Ostinato funebre for small orchestra (1991)
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets (3rd contrabass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 2 horns,
trumpet, trombone, 3 percussions, 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 violoncellos, double bass
Heinz Holliger: Toronto Exercices (2005)
Flute, clarinet, violin, harp, marimbaphon
Heinz Holliger: „h“ für Bläserquintett (1968)
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn
PROGRAMME II – CONCERT ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2010
Selection of the following pieces (conducted)
Georg Friedrich Haas: Sextet (1992/96)
Flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, percussion
Olga Neuwirth: ...morphologische Fragmente... (1999)
Soprano, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, percussion
Vladimir Tarnopolski: Eindruck – Ausdruck III (1996)
Flute, clarinet, piano, violin, viola, violoncello
Anton Webern: concert op. 24 (1934)
Flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, violin, viola
George Benjamin: At First Light (1982)
Flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion,
2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass
Friedrich Goldmann: Linie / Splitter (1996)
Flute, clarinet, piano, vibraphone, violin, viola, violoncello
Conlon Nancarrow: piece No. 2 (1986)
Oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, 2 pianos, 2 violins , viola, violoncello, double bass
György Ligeti: Chamber concert for 13 instrumentalists (1969/70)
Flute, oboe (a. english horn, oboe d’amore), 2 clarinets, horn, trombone, piano, cembalo/synth., 2 violins , viola, violoncello, double bass
Selection of following chamber music:
Elliott Carter: Duettino for violin, violoncello
Edison Denissow: Sonata for clarinet solo (1972)
Edison Denissow: Solo for trumpet (1972)
Edison Denissow: Trio for flute, bassoon, piano (1096)
Gérard Grisey: Talea for flute, clarinet, piano, violin, violoncello (1986)
Helmut Lachenmann: Trio Fluido for clarinet, viola, percussion (1966)
Conlon Nancarrow: Trio for clarinet, bassoon, piano (1942)
Conlon Nancarrow: Saraband and scherzo for oboe, bassoon, piano (1930)
Galina Ustwolskaja: Trio for clarinet, violin, piano (1949)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Présence – ballet blanc, for violin, violoncello,
piano (1961)
PROGRAMM III – SOLO-/DUO-PIECES BY HEINZ HOLLIGER:
Every participant should, if possible for her/his instrument, prepare at the minimum one of the following pieces. Mr. Holliger will work with the participants on these pieces regularly at evening workshops, which will be open to all participants.
Trema / Version for violin solo (1983)
Soli / for violin (movements: „das Mädchen vom weissen Stein“,
„Frühlingstanz“, „Mollo la Molla“) (2000/2001)
Trema / for viola solo (1981)
Souvenirs trémaësques / for viola (2000/20001)
Chaconne / for violoncello solo (1975)
Trema / version for violoncello solo (1981)
Fantasiestück and Recitativo passionato / version for violoncello solo (2000/2001)
unbelaubte Gedanken zu Hölderlins „Tinian“ / for double bass (5 strings) (2006)
Lieder ohne Worte / four pieces for violin and piano (1982/83)
Lieder ohne Worte II / seven pieces for violin and piano (1985-94)
Romancendres / for violoncello and piano (2003)
Drei Skizzen / for violin and viola (2006)
Duo / for violin and violoncello (1982)
Duo II / for violin and violoncello (1988/94)
Lied / for flute, alto flute or bass flute (amplified) (1971)
„(t)air(e)“ / for Flute solo (1980/83)
Schlafgewölk / from Turm-Musik for alto flute and tubular bells or temple
bells ad libitum (1984)
Sonate (in)solit(air)e / dite „Le Piémontois Jurassien“ ou „de Tramelan-dessus à Hameau-dessus“ for flute solo (1995/96)
Petit Air pour flût(ist)e solitair(e) / addendum in: Sonate (in)solit(air)e
for flute solo (2000)
„(é)cri(t)“ / for flute solo (2005/2006)
Sonate / for oboe solo (1956-57/99)
Studie über Mehrklänge / for oboe (1971)
Studie II / for oboe solo (1981)
a reedy Double (a double reading for Doublereeder) / for oboe solo or 2 oboes (ad lib. oboe solo with a drone by 2 horns or 2 clarinets or 2 string players) (2000/2001)
Contrechant (sur le nom de Baudelaire) / for clarinet solo (2007)
Rechant / for clarinet solo (2008)
KLAUS-UR / three pieces for bassoon (2001-2002)
Cynddaredd – Brenddwyd (Fury – Dream) / for horn in F (2001 / rev. 2004)
La MORT d’ENOB / for trombone solo (2000/2001)
2 Lecutures de Kosovel for trombone solo (new piece)
4 Duos for 2 violins (new piece)
Elis, 3 nocturnes for piano (1961)
Partita for piano (1999)
„Chinderliecht“, pieces for piano (1993/95)
WHEN – WHERE – COSTS
TIME SCHEDULE
29 August arrival
29 August, 5 p.m. welcome, first rehearsals – attendance compulsory!
29 August – 12 September master class
11/12 September concerts
13 September departure
VENUE
Tiroler Bildungsinstitut Grillhof, Grillhofweg 100, 6080 Igls-Vill,
JOURNEY
Participants are exclusively responsible for arriving in time for the master class
on 29 August and for arranging their departure on 13 September. For directions,
please go to More information will be made available to accepted participants on the IEMA online platform.
COSTS
There is no course fee. Expenses for participants: € 180.- for catering expenses (including accommodation and full board at the Grillhof), expenses for individual arrival and departure to/from the venue. Academy participants receive free admission to all concerts of the festival KLANGSPUREN (09.09.-26.09.2010) as well as two free tickets for the workshop concert and the final concert of the academy.
REQUIREMENTS & APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The following positions are covered in the repertoire:
conducting // flute – oboe – clarinet – bassoon – horn – trumpet – trombone – piano – percussion – harp – violin – viola – violoncello – double bass
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
To be submitted by interested students not later than by 30 April 2010:
- Completed registration form
- Detailed CV with picture, current address and e-mail
- List of performed pieces of contemporary music
- CD featuring your work (contemporary music is desirable but not necessary)
- Conductors: DVD featuring you/your work
to the following address:
KLANGSPUREN Schwaz Tirol
Klangspurengasse 1/Ecke Ullreichstr. 8a
6130 Schwaz
Austria
Acceptance will be announced by end of May; a detailed timetable including the respective repertoire and the access code for the IEMA online platform will be
published in June. All applicants will be informed via Email, application
documents will not be returned.
Scores for solo pieces and duos must be obtained individually; scores for chamber music and ensemble pieces are provided by the organisers via the online platform.
MORE INFORMATION
KLANGSPUREN Schwaz Tirol
t +43 5252 73582,
International Ensemble Modern Academy