HFMT CONTEMPORARY
Dear friends of the HfMT,
May begins as beautifully as it should, with fresh strawberries and asparagus tempting us everywhere. Super-fresh music - and plenty of it - is on the program at the HfMT. A good opportunity to talk to composers and take a closer look at what they do. What do they do, how do they become composers and how do they actually work? We want to whet your appetite with a broad spectrum of current sounds. The creators of the new pieces can be found in many places and look forward to exchanging ideas with you.
In addition to the chosen focus, we celebrate diversity as always and have therefore compiled further recommendations for you at the end of the newsletter.
We hope you enjoy browsing,
Your HfMT
FESTIVAL TIME: HAMBURG CONTEMPORARY
You can immerse yourself in the world of contemporary music for four days from May 13 to 16. Our festival is colorful with still dripping wet scores and milestones of the avant-garde.
The usual "Tönen, Scheppern, Dröhnen #1!" can be expected in the class evenings. This time not only from the Hamburg composition classes, but also from the Rostockers, whom we have invited to an exchange. In honor of Arnold Schönberg, who would have been 150 years old this year, there will be chamber music for string instruments, which Prof. Tanja Becker-Bender has worked on with students, as well as his epochal "Pierrot Lunaire", and voice artist Frauke Aulbert will sing a serenade for Luigi Nono's 100th birthday. The evening with 3 violinists from Ensemble Resonanz brings us a miniature wonderland with 8 world premieres. Our composition students had a "carte blanche" and were allowed to write everything imaginable into the fingers of the specialists for chair-edged experimentation. And they took this literally...
STRONG CONTRASTS
Composition student Marta Kowalczuk has a particular passion for baroque music - she is a baroque violinist herself - and often creates a connection between old and new in her pieces that will certainly not escape the trained ear. In general, she is very interested in diverse timbres and textures and would like to show in her master's concert how broad the range of topics is that one deals with as a composer. In doing so, she links up with other genres such as film, drama and poetry, all of which can be experienced in her final concert. Let's follow her invitation: "The audience should definitely be prepared for a large portion of fun, humor, exaggeration, but also for a contrast by taking up more serious topics."
CHINESE REFERENCES
Xing Yu performs in his master concert both as a composer and as a conductor of his own works. His work focuses on aspects of Asian culture, which he integrates into his compositional work using timbre, structure and techniques.
In his final program, for example, we hear the piece "Grasschrift Nr. 2" for recorder and harpsichord, which refers to Shu Pu (the story of calligraphy). "The concept of music is related to calligraphy, which is inspired by a movie in memory, in which the actions of writing are not presented by the hands. Instead, the procedures are handled by the video editor, which means that it is automatic, so to speak. It also reminded me of Chinese cursive writing and made me lean towards its connection with music. The music here is more like a mental screen print, with different movements of writing along the way of dynamic visions of colors, lines and actions."
Another work "Listening to the Wind" refers to an old Chinese painting and yet another "The painted skin" to a Chinese story from the 17th century.
HOW TO BECOME
"How do you actually become part of this talent factory?" we ask Prof. Gordon Kampe, who teaches the composition classes at the HfMT with Prof. Fredrik Schwenk and Prof. Elmar Lampson.
For Gordon Kampe, something clearly has to sparkle and flash. "I also think it's important that I can feel the curiosity. If someone comes along with a perfectly designed score and a ready-made knowledge of contemporary music, I tend to be skeptical. For me, the rough and tumble is always more exciting than straight lines.
At the same time, of course, you also have a lot of responsibility and you have to somehow have a sense that this can work out and that the person will find a place in this profession."
The class is also put together with a view to creating a good mix so that the students can inspire each other.
Once they have arrived, Kampe believes that, in addition to the basic technical training, the community, a non-negotiable spirit of research and a large portion of cheerfulness are key to a successful course of study. "We cook, we celebrate, we are there for each other and we have the chance to do something "good" in a difficult world."
LOTS OF SUCCESSES
At the moment, it's not just the brilliant achievements of a few that need to be praised, but a whole cornucopia of successes that is pouring out evenly over the students.
Honor to whom honor is due! We have compiled a list of prizes, competition successes, composition commissions and other great news from recent times for you to marvel at (and be a little proud of).
HfMT composers flowing out...
Nina Deuse: Scholarship at the Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia in Bamberg
Chin-Hsien Chung: German premiere of Fleeting Passage by IEMA (International Ensemble Modern Academy) at Wittener Tage for New Chamber Music
Yixie Shen: nominated for Gaudeamus Award 2024
Kai Kobayashi: world premiere at the Munich Biennale for contemporary music theater
Eunhye Joo and Chin-Hsien Chung: world premieres of two short operas at Staatstheater Kassel
Sina Fani Sani: Scholarship Künstlerhof Schreyahn 2024-25, Scholarship Akademie Musiktheater heute
Alexander Schweiß: Shortlist Reinhold-Otto-Mayer Prize and selection with the operetta "The Bat Bomb" for the Short Operetta Festival Salzkammergut.
Marta Kowalczuk: Composition commission WDR 3 Neue Musik: new soundtrack for silent film Should Men Walk Home
Kyungjin Lim: Selection for Delian Summer Academy
Yixuan-Hu: selected for the composer seminar of the Lucerne Festival Academy
FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Organ concert in St. Katharinen
From May 5 to 8, we are hosting the summer conference of the RKM (Rectors' Conference of Music Universities) and welcoming around 100 participants. For our conference guests and exclusively for our loyal newsletter readers, there will be a concert by students and teachers on May 7 with early baroque and baroque organ music on the famous reconstructed organ from the time of Johann Adam Reincken and Johann Sebastian Bach in St. Katharinen.
If you would like to come, please send us an email to kommunikation@hfmt-hamburg.de by May 6 . We will then put you on the guest list.
Organ concert on May 7.
Kiezstürmer 2024
Every year, our experimental young directors love to conquer the stage of the St. Pauli Theater. We are involved with four productions. For example with "bis gleich kein problem"
Kiezstürmeron May 9 and 10
Summer opera: La Clemenza di Tito
Every year, the opera class's big summer opera is our bestseller and crowd-puller. This year, under the musical direction of Willem Wenzel and the direction of Arila Siegert, we will conjure up Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" on the Forum stage.
Premiere is on 12 May
Prima Vista Penthesilea
In her final project in the "Running up that Hill" series, director Yeşim Keim Schaub explores the ancient story of Penthesilea and brings a production with a four-person acting ensemble to the Kampnagel stage.
Premiere is on 25 May
Diversity can inspire
May 28 is German Diversity Day, initiated by Charta der Vielfalt e.V. with many campaigns for an open and non-discriminatory working environment. We are joining in and presenting our new diversity management concept on this day. There will also be new and good sounds, artistic acts, targeted interventions and more. It's going to be a party!
HfMT@ German Diversity Day on May 28 in the Forum
Nordklang Chamber Choir Festival
Choir lovers will get their money's worth here! For the second time, Hamburg's chamber choirs come together for concerts, workshops and more. With a festival pass, you can be there everywhere. The HfMT cooperates with the chamber choir, the women's choir as well as with the workshops and master classes.
Nordklang Festival 2024 from May 29 to June 2
Still haven't found anything?
You can find out what else is on in our calendar of events as usual
FOLGEN SIE UNS!
