From EMPAC, one of many interesting events they are putting on this fall:
A contrast of light and dark, harmony and dissonance, In Vain startles and captivates the senses. Performed by a 24-member chamber orchestra, much of this intense 75-minute composition takes place in total darkness. In this state, the musicians must perform from memory, communicating with each other and the audience only through sound. The cycles between light and darkness are accompanied by dramatic microtonal deviations in the musical plane, which underscore a desire for perfect harmony, while understanding the futility of achieving a perfect harmonic co-existence, both musically and in the world.
Georg Friedrich Haas is an internationally known composer of spectral music. Born in Graz, Austria, Haas studied composition with Gösta Neuwirth and Ivan Eröd, and piano with Doris Wolf at the Musikhochschule (Graz). He pursued graduate studies with Friedrich Cerha at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna, and completed composition and computer music courses at Darmstadt and at IRCAM (Paris).
Haas’ style focuses on micropolyphony, microintervals, and exploitation of the overtone series. His award-winning works have been part of several festivals, including Wien Modern (Vienna), Musikprotokoll (Graz), Witten, Huddersfield, Royaumont, Venice Biennale, Festival d’Automne (Paris), and Darmstädter Ferienkurse. Haas teaches composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Basel, Switzerland, where he currently resides.
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