In conjunction with Ensemble Dal Niente’s Proximity series, which allows for meaningful interaction between audience and composer, Michael Lewanski leads Ensemble Dal Niente in the American premiere of Spahlinger’s verlorener weg I & II (2000), each piece unfolding the same material in different orders and from different perspectives. In the space opened up between these two large ensemble works emerges an intimate chamber concert, winding a path between the dark duo adieu m’amour, the desperate trio musica impura (1983), and three love songs by the great 15th-century composer Guillaume Dufay.
Mathias Spahlinger, verlorener weg, version 1 (2000), for ensemble*
Mathias Spahlinger, musica impura (1983), for voice, guitar, & percussion
Guillaume Dufay, Three chansons (mid-1400s), arr. voice & ensemble
Mathias Spahlinger, “adieu m’amour”, hommage à guillaume dufay (1983), for violin & cello
Mathias Spahlinger, verlorener weg, version 2 (2000), for ensemble*
*American Premiere
This concert is part of “there is no repetition: mathias spahlinger at 70,” a city wide festival in Chicago celebrating German composer Mathias Spahlinger’s 70th year with a 10-day residency and retrospective of his music and thought. The first of its kind in the States, this festival presents six concerts and a symposium, all free and open to the public, and brings together renowned musicians and scholars from Chicago, New York, Berlin, Zürich, and Basel. Generously supported by the Goethe Institute, the University of Chicago, DePaul University, the Renaissance Society, the Graham Foundation, the Arts Council of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this festival spans Spahlinger’s career from the late 1960s through the present day, and features several premieres. Learn more at norepetition.tumblr.com.