Oct. 20: live-stream opening ceremony from Vienna and New York of an exhibition celebrating opera stars Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura

On October 20 at 12 pm EDT, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents a live-streamed ceremony opening an exhibition in Vienna honoring the stage and film careers of the opera and operetta stars Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth. The opening event will be streamed on Youtube.

For media only, a live press conference and Q&A begins at 1 pm EDT, via Zoom. In addition to a discussion with Mr. Kiepura, Mr. Benson, and Susanne Korbel (curator of the exhibition), vintage film clips will be shown. Contact MaryKat Hoeser to request an invitation.

The noon livestream includes events in both Vienna and New York. From Vienna, Ramon Vargas of the Vienna Staatsoper performs, and Wolfgang Sobotka (President of the Austrian Parliament) gives a welcome statement. From ACFNY in New York, Marjan Kiepura (son of Eggerth and Kiepura), shares stories of family life in conversation with ACFNY Director Michael Haider and opera scholar Ken Benson. A clip from the 1949 film Valse Brilliante will be shown. The entire opening event will be in English.

The exhibition at the University of Music and Performance in Vienna (mdw) honors the stage and film careers of Jan Kiepura and Marta Eggerth, who together escaped Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938, having created a musical legacy that would revolutionize opera and operetta.

Classical Voice North America reviews Wubbels/Ablinger at ACFNY

Beyond Words:
A Speech’s Sound Can Inspire Music

By David Patrick Stearns

NEW YORK – The beat goes on … but with a German modernist sense of order.

One hallmark of the 1950s Beat Generation was word spinners like Jack Kerouac improvising for hours with the likes of composer David Amram on French horn – in a meeting of spoken word and jazz. Some 40 years later, starting in 1998, Austria-born but now Berlin-based composer Peter Ablinger (best known for electronic installations) began composing a projected cycle of 80 piano works using archival recordings of historic figures, from Ezra Pound to Nina Simone, alongside a pianistic response (as opposed to an accompaniment).

A less-obvious common ground between the Beat Generation practice and this experimental European composer was Steve Reich’s video opera The Cave, which had music tightly fashioned to the rhythms and inflections of pre-recorded speech. Unlike Reich, Ablinger embraces the fundamental atonality of speech in his music. It all made sense at the Austrian Cultural Forum on Jan. 28, when nine of Ablinger’s pieces – one of them brand new, most of them lasting five to seven minutes – were performed in a concert simply titled “Voices & Piano.”

In the Forum’s quirky sliver of a building on E. 52nd Street – it’s only 25 feet wide – the stage in the small, 90-seat theater had a large loudspeaker and a piano. Fellow composer Eric Wubbels (a radical minimalist) may have been an ideal pianist in what had to be a meeting of cutting-edge minds. As one might expect from an installation composer such as Ablinger, the music relied on nonfunctional harmony and, in some of the more complex chord structures, it had a passing resemblance to Olivier Messiaen in his best Visions of Amen mode.

The program’s final piece had Polish conceptual artist Roman Opałka (1931- 2001) counting numbers up around two million (he was trying to control time, and made it as far as five million) alongside piano writing that vaguely resembled some of the more spare moments of jazz master Bill Evans. But perhaps in a rebellion against the orderliness of number counting, Ablinger had 20 minutes of chords that projected no conventional pattern of musical thought.

The program’s other pieces didn’t do any one thing. Often, the music closely hugged the words, especially in the piece quoting Slovak poet Mila Haugová (b. 1942). Most often, the music started out close to the words but went its own way. Occasionally, the piano delivered an abstracted psychological portrait. The movement based around Pound (1885-1972) caught the poet during his delusional wartime years when his mouth was often offensively unfiltered. The music felt like a protest against Pound, frequently trying to drown him out, and with the kind of jangling manic activity of a mind that has melted down.

Abstract painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004), whose spare canvasses could be as simple as a series of horizontal stripes, was heard discussing her artistic identity while finely honed piano chords were sounded one at a time in various parts of the keyboard. Singer Simone (1933-2003) discussed Civil Rights while the wide-ranging piano writing conveyed the vast musical imagination that made her a great singer.

The one world premiere was a work written around a rant by notoriously abrasive performance artist Diamanda Galás. Due to technical problems, the click track that was only to be heard by the pianist was embedded in the actual tape of Galás, and thus was heard by the audience. But you know the old saying in the jazz world: If a mistake happens twice, it then becomes part of the piece. Here, the click track and Galás seemed made for each other.

How good is the music in the overall program? Hard to say in an initial exposure. But the music can be safely described as rather slight much of the time, always engaging, and sometimes fascinating.

Insider Interview with pianist and composer Eric Wubbels

On Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 7:00 pm, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents pianist Eric Wubbels performing selections from Peter Ablinger's ground-breaking "Voices and Piano" series. In this Insider Interview, we spoke with Mr. Wubbels about his past experiences working with Ablinger, his approach to learning this music, and so much more.  More info online at acfny.org.

What drew you to the music of Peter Ablinger? 

His music really stands out for me in the world of composition – in the visual arts there are all kinds of major artists whose work is first and foremost concept-driven, but among composers until very recently it's hard to name more than Cage, Lucier, and one or two others. I'd put Ablinger in with them.

The breadth of his practice is pretty extraordinary (everything from concert music to installation to opera, text scores, electronic music, and “trees planted according to acoustic criteria”...), and yet once you're familiar with his basic artistic personality everything is so clearly related back to a very small set of core concerns and principles. The simplest way I could say it is that his music is about listening.

And yet for me it's the furthest thing from dryly conceptual in its treatment of those concerns. It's incredibly sincere, humanistic, spiritual, and politically engaged, unpretentious and alive to beauty. And, I love the sounds...

And can you share any anecdotes from your experiences working with him?

In 2009 he agreed to come to New York to work with my ensemble on a concert of his music. We had basically no reputation in Europe, so we were amazed that he was willing to come over at all. And then, he refused to be put up in a hotel (he slept on my couch in Brooklyn for the week), and refused to be paid a commissioning fee that was any more than what any of the musicians who would play the piece would be paid for playing it. I really admire him.

In this work “Voices and Piano”, the pianist is performing along with recordings of voices or speech – as the performer, how does the electronic/recorded part of the work influence/affect how you approach your part?

As the piano part is derived completely from the sound of each recording and voice, part of the initial work is trying to hear what Peter heard in the quality of the voice (or sometimes the noise artifacts of the recording itself) so that you can create the overall sound and affect of each piece. I think arriving at an interpretation involves making decisions primarily about sonority and the overall dynamic structure – I'm trying to achieve something relative to the voice which is not quite “accompanying,” not quite “blending,” but finding a kind of balance-point where the combination of the parts allows them to be experienced simultaneously so that something new is revealed through their comparison. 

My initial impulse when I first worked on the pieces was to try to match the piano part to the voice as closely as possible (rhythmically, dynamically, etc.). After working with Peter I appreciate the ways in which the alignment between the two elements is less “realistic” and more “pixellated” – the piano is basically an equal-tempered grid of an instrument, while a voice is totally fluid. So the relationship between the two has something in common with Chuck Close's portraits, or earlier pointillist/divisionist approaches to representation in the visual arts, where we see the “reality” of what's seen simultaneously with the “grid” of our own perception. 

You will be performing this program in Chicago as well as in New York – in a work like this with a static electronic part, how much variety do you try to bring to your own part from performance to performance?

Another thing that I really value in Voices and Piano is the form, which is one that very rare in the music world – it's an archive. There are currently over 50 pieces, and as a result the cumulative duration is far too long to be played in a single concert. As a performer, then, your first responsibility is actually curatorial: you choose which voices to present, and thereby which individuals, communities, and points of view to represent in a given performance. 

For that reason, I feel like there are all these voices already present in the piece, and I'm not really trying to draw focus away from them onto myself. I think I'd feel compelled to generate variety for myself only if I were bored with the music, and on the contrary, given the difficulty of the task, I'm completely immersed in it and it takes the entirety of my focus. Every performance is naturally different without my having to intend the details of that in any way; it's great like that!

How does your experience as both a composer and performer influence how you interpret the music of Ablinger?

It helps me put my performer ego aside and so that I can try just to serve the idea. As a composer, I see what he's going for, and I see and value the beauty of it, and I recognize that it's likely best served by a performance that's neutral, by and large. If my presence in the room dominates over the recorded voice, the balance between the elements that's necessary for them to blend into a third, composite structure would be lost. And so I have to resist the impulse to be “expressive” or dynamic in traditional ways, as that will actually make the piece as a whole less expressive.

January 28 at ACFNY: Eric Wubbels plays Peter Ablinger

Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents:

Eric Wubbels performs selections from Peter Ablinger's electro-acoustic work "Voices and Piano"

On Tuesday, January 28 at 7:00 pm, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents pianist Eric Wubbels performing selections from Peter Ablinger's ground-breaking "Voices and Piano" series. The highlight of the evening is the world premiere performance of the newest addition to the series, a work using the voice of American performance artist Diamanda Galás.

"Voices and Piano" is an extensive cycle of pieces for recorded voice - usually a well-known celebrity - and piano. Begun in 1998, Ablinger's cycle continues to be a work in progress and will ultimately include about 80 pieces/voices (around four hours of music). The voices are taken from speeches, interviews or readings, and rather than an accompaniment, the piano part serves as a commentary on the spoken text.

Peter Ablinger will be in attendance for the concert and will handle the electronics at the performance. Selections will include the voices of Agnes Martin, Mila Haugová, Ezra Pound, Nina Simone, Setsuko Hara, Hanna Schygulla, Cecil Taylor, Roman Opalka, and the world premiere of Diamanda Galás.

In addition to Mr. Ablinger's appearance at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, his visit to the U.S. also includes a week-long residency at the Goethe Institut Chicago with the Wet Ink Ensemble, and an Alexei Ratmansky choreographed world premiere with the New York City Ballet.

Admission is free, and reservations (online at ACFNY.org) are required. Austrian Cultural Forum New York is located at 11 East 52nd Street, New York, NY.

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York's Spring 2020 concert season also includes the Argento Chamber Ensemble performing works by Arnold Schoenberg and a world premiere by Erin Gee, Klezmer music by Roman Grinberg and Sasha Danilov on March 10, and the piano duo of Hafez Babashahi and Mira Gill performing Austrian works from Schubert to Johannes Maria Staud on March 26. See details below.

Peter Ablinger was born in Schwanenstadt, Austria in 1959. He began studying graphic arts but enthused by free jazz changed his focus to composition, studying with Gösta Neuwirth and Roman Haubenstock-Ramati in Graz and Vienna. Since 1982 he has lived in Berlin, where he has created and arranged numerous festivals and concerts. He is the founder of Ensemble Zwischentöne, and has been guest conductor of Klangforum Wien, United Berlin and the InselMusik Ensemble. In 2012 Ablinger was awarded membership in the Academy of Arts Berlin, and from 2012 to 2017 he was research professor at the University of Huddersfield. 

Eric Wubbels is an award-winning composer and pianist, and is Co-Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble. His music has been performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S., by groups including Mivos Quartet, yarn|wire, Splinter Reeds, and Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and has been featured on festivals including Huddersfield Festival, Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, New York Philharmonic CONTACT, MATA Festival, and Zurich Tage für Neue Musik.

As a pianist, he has given U.S. and world premieres of works by major figures including Peter Ablinger, Richard Barrett, Beat Furrer, George Lewis, and Mathias Spahlinger. He has recorded for Carrier Records, hatART, Intakt, New Focus, Spektral (Vienna), quiet design, and Albany Records, among others, and has held teaching positions at Amherst College and Oberlin Conservatory.

CALENDAR LISTING

January 28, 2020 at 7:00 pm

Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents:

Eric Wubbels performing selections from Peter Ablinger's "Voices and Piano"

Including the world premiere of Diamanda Galás

Austrian Cultural Forum New York

11 E 52nd St, New York, NY 10022

Ticket reservations will be available beginning December 18 at:

www.acfny.org

Nicolas Hodges performs selections of "Voices and Piano"

selections from "Voices and Piano"

Diamanda Galás *WORLD PREMIERE*

Agnes Martin

Mila Haugová

Ezra Pound

Nina Simone

Setsuko Hara

Hanna Schygulla

Cecil Taylor

Roman Opalka

Eric Wubbels, piano

Peter Ablinger, electronics

Insider Interview: Mia Zabelka, sound artist

On Monday, April 8 at 7:30 pm, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York presents the Austrian violinist and vocalist Mia Zabelka with experimental video artist Katherine Liberovskaya. The evening also features the legendary intermedia artist Phill Niblock performing his signature hypnotic compositions. In this Insider Interview, we spoke with Ms. Zabelka about her early musical influences, approach to improvisation and collaboration, and so much more.  More info online at acfny.org.

Classical Music Communications - You started your training of the violin in a very traditional sense. What are your earliest memories of breaking away from the classical tradition?

Mia Zabelka - In addition to my classical violin training I started to play in a jazz rock band at the age of 14. At that time there was a very lively jazz scene in the Vienna Underground. For example, Joe Zawinul came out of it. It brought me more recognition and social integration from my school friends than classical music.

I was also interested in electronic music/ sound art from a very early age. This was at a time before the computer was generally available and we drew enormous loops and lengths of audiotape through the sound studio instead. Work at the mixing console was also incredibly important, since it was here that we could still maintain the “haptic” aspect through the physical contact we had in handling the sound and tonal events we produced. I experimented with the sounds of my own pulse and breath and improvised with them at live concerts on the violin and with my voice.

CMC - You’ve described your compositions as “noise & sound art,” in addition to calling yourself a “sound artist.” What is sound art?

MZ - Sound art is an artistic discipline in which sound is utilized as a primary medium. Sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. Sound art can be considered as being an element of many areas such as acoustics, psychoacoustics, electronics, noise music, audio media, found or environmental sound, soundscapes, explorations of the human body, sculpture, architecture, film or video and other aspects of the current discourse of contemporary art. Noise music is a category of music that is characterized by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. Noise music includes a wide range of musical styles and sound-based creative practices that feature noise as a primary aspect.

CMC - For your upcoming show at the ACF, you’ll be performing with video artist Katherine Liberovskaya. What is your process for composing sound art with visual art in collaboration such as this one? 

MZ - The interdisciplinary interaction of Sound, Art, and Video is the primary aspect of this cooperation. Since my first release SOMATEME I have continuously explored sound and music as physical phenomena, always pushing back the boundaries in experimental performances and compositions that question established notions, improving the available techniques and given structures. 

I transform movement into a language of musical signs. The gestures/phrasing which are intrinsically ever-present when playing the instrument are then inflated, exaggerated, transformed, de-constructed etc. and I succeed in finding new musical formulations through this, reaching beyond most stereotypes and clichés, and which are thus characteristic for my special musical language.

I play both acoustic and electric violin and various electronic devices today. An issue of great importance to me with these instruments is having direct access to the sound material with the effect pedals, which I can operate manually. The electronic sound is devised physically through “haptic” playing. Using this set up I am given the opportunity to expand the sound range so extensively that the violin itself becomes an interface and/or an electronic sound generator/sound machine. I use the electronic sound as it were to dress up or mask the natural acoustic sound of the instrument.

CMC - Improvisation seems to be a very important part of your style. In a concert like the upcoming one at the ACF, how much of this music is set (written out, or otherwise set in stone), and how much is improvised? Do you leave certain sections open for improvisation, or is there always room for it?

MZ - In my solo work, I basically act more as a composer than as an improvisational musician. These are electroacoustic compositions, but in the live context they also repeatedly include improvisatory parts. I create a composed framework that is open to improvisational aspects. I describe my form of musical improvisation as “automatic playing”. What I mean by this is not only a computer-like mechanical playing style, but rather the ability to achieve the production of a flow of sound similar to that in speech, filled with musical ideas and deep inner emotion both in my music and myself.

CMC - In this project, the dialogue is created through surveillance technology.  What exactly is surveillance technology, and how do you use it?

MZ - In my cooperation with Katherine Liberovskaya we use a small camera attached to my right wrist, making visible in real time the genesis of the music / the sound. Katherine uses another camera and special software to generate feedback loops from these shots. Thus, the process of creating music is spontaneously transformed into visuals.

CMC - Is there a social commentary attached to this project?

MZ - I think experimental music and improvisation always involve a social commentary.

CMC - What do you hope audiences will take away from this performance?

MZ - In my music, I am always trying to tell stories.  I hope that people are getting touched by this sonic story telling. I would like to encourage the listeners to listen intensively, to actively participate in the process of creating the music and the visuals, to get involved in an audiovisual adventure together with us.