An extraordinary live meeting of contemporary music legends and a creative fusion of artists who deliberately cross genre borders. The NFM Orchestra will perform with sound designers and engineers from the legendary Parisian IRCAM studio, as well as with great figures of contemporary improvised music. We will hear entirely new compositions by Elżbieta Sikora – composer associate with the classic electroacoustics school, a student of Tadeusz Baird, Betsy Jolas and Pierre Schaeffer. Sikora has also been the heart and brain of the Musica Electronica Nova festival for many years. Both parts of her Symfonia Wrocławska composition consitute a symphonic and electronic tribute to the city of Wrocław. In the second part of the concert, we will hear John Zorn, one of the most unique personalities of contemporary jazz. We know him as an explorer, a bold avant-gardist, who never ceases to pursue new sonic discoveries – but on this evening in Wrocław, we will see his more reflective side. Suppôts et Suppliciations is atribute to 20th century classics, as well as Zorn himself's favourite works. The very emotional and moving Contes de Fées string concerto was written soon after the composer's mother died. Oviri for five brass instruments, two percussions, electric guitars and electronics will be performed for the first time in Europe. As a bridge linking these two parts of the event, we will hear Witold Lutosławski's Interludium.
Contes de Fées (1999)
In the tradition of the great violin concertos, this is a powerful and dramatic showpiece for soloist and orchestra in the form of a romantic fantasy. Inspired by Joseph Cornell and written soon after the passing of Zorn's mother, this piece is an emotional powerhouse.
Suppôts et Suppliciations (2012)
"Je ferai du con sans la mere un ame obscure, totale, obtuse et absolue." Antonin Artaud.
Inspired by the late writings of Antonin Artaud, this piece was composed during 6 very intense weeks in July-August, and was then tweaked through September 2012. Composed 18 hours a day non stop in almost a kind of trance, the piece has a strange ritualistic feel and is constructed in one of the oddest forms I have ever created. The orchestra is again treated as a large chamber ensemble of 80 soloists, and everyone has their own personal bright moment. My heroes Ives, Carter and Varèse are very much touchstones here and the piece is a tour de force—a real Concerto for Orchestra. It is divided into 3 sections whose beginnings and endings are left unclear: fragmentations-lettres-interjections, and the piece is filled with special moments: the opening celesta solo, the early tutti explosion, the long cluster crescendo, bass divisis, percussion quartet, F# wind unison, harp solo, on and on to the quiet, poetic ending.
The commisssioning of Sonosphere III. Symfonia Wrocławska by Elżbieta Sikora was co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the programme ‘Collections’, priority ‘Composing Commissions’ realised by the Institute of Music and Dance.
