STEFAN PRINS Augmented

DVD + CD

Nadar Ensemble Klangforum Wien . Bas Wiegers Stephane Ginsburgh Yaron Deutsch Hiatus

Stefan Prins Photo: Laurent Orseau 2 STEFAN PRINS (*1979) DVD

1 Generation Kill (2012) 26:03 7 Third Space (2016–2018) 80:55 Commissioned by SWR/Donaueschinger Musiktage Commissioned by the City of Munich for the Münchener Biennale – Festival für Neues Musik- 2 Mirror Box Extensions (2014/2015) 36:02 theater, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Commissioned by SWR/Donaueschinger Musiktage Musikstiftung Coproduced by Muziekcentrum De Bijloke TT 202:57 Piano Hero #1–4 (2011–2017) Coproduction Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Ultima Festival Oslo, Internationale Ferienkurse für neue Musik Darmstadt and Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology (ICST) Zürich

3 Piano Hero #1 08:16 Commissioned by Frederik Croene

4 Piano Hero #2 16:21 Commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival

5 Piano Hero #3 22:11 Commissioned by BOZAR, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke and Ultima Oslo

6 Piano Hero #4 13:09 Commissioned by Muziekcentrum De Bijloke

3 DVD

Nadar Ensemble 7 Klangforum Wien 1 2 Marieke Berendsen, Olivier Vivarès, clarinets violin and scenography Gerald Preinfalk, saxophones 1 2 Pieter Matthynssens, cello Anders Nyqvist, trumpet 1 2 Yves Goemaere, percussion Ivo Nilsson, trombone 1 2 Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, Florian Müller, keyboard electric guitar, electric guitar avatar Krassimir Sterev, accordion 1 2 Elisa Medinilla, piano and Yaron Deutsch, electric guitar keyboard, game controller Lukas Schiske, percussion 1 2 Thomas Moore, trombone, Dimitrios Polisoidis, viola game controller Uli Fussenegger, double bass 1 2 Wannes Gonnissen, sound Florian Bogner, sound 1 Dries Tack, game controller Peter Böhm, sound 1 Katrien Gaelens, game controller Bas Wiegers, conductor 2 Bertel Schollaert, saxophone 7 Dancers (Hiatus) Daniel Linehan, choreography 3 4 5 6 Stephane Ginsburgh, Gorka Gurratxaga Arruti piano and keyboard Renan Martins de Oliveira 3 4 5 6 Florian Bogner, sound, Anne Pajunen live-electronics Victor Pérez Armero 3 4 5 6 Stefan Prins, live-electronics Alexander Standard 3 4 6 Frederik Croene, piano on Louise Tanoto inside-piano videos Katie Vickers

4 DVD

Recording dates: Track 7 1 2 June 2014 Concept & Music: Stefan Prins 2 21–22 August 2018 Concept & Choreography: Daniel Linehan 3 4 5 6 28–29 August 2018 Scenography: 88888 7 5 June 2018 Production: Hiatus, Klangforum Wien in Recording venues: collaboration with ICST Zürich 1 Theater Studio, deSingel International Coproduction: Münchener Biennale für Arts Campus, Antwerp Neues Musiktheater, deSingel International 2 3 4 5 6 Concert Hall, Arts Campus Antwerp, Charleroi Danse Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Gent Costume Design: Frédérick Denis 7 Carl Orff Saal, Gasteig, Munich Lighting Design: Ralf Nonn Video recording and editing: Sound design: Florian Bogner & Peter Böhm 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kobe Wens Dramaturgy: Alain Franco 7 Lauran Kansy and Outside eye: Michael Holland Rebecca Meining (recording), Baltasar Thomas (editing) Audio recording engineer: 1 2 Wannes Gonnissen 3 4 5 6 Florian Bogner 7 Florian Bogner, Peter Böhm Audio mixing and editing: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stefan Prins 7 Florian Bogner Audio mixing and mastering: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stefano Bechini/ Green Brain Studio 7 Florian Bogner Sound projection: 3 4 5 6 7 Florian Bogner Additional programming: 3 4 5 6 Jan Schacher

5 Nadar Ensemble performing Photo: Generation Kill Anna van Kooij 6 STEFAN PRINS (*1979) CD

1 Not I (2007/2018) 17:53 Commissioned by De Nieuwe Reeks Leuven

2 Third Space (2016–2018) 42:15 Commissioned by the City of Munich for the Münchener Biennale – Festival für Neues Musiktheater, financed by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung

3 Infiltrationen 3.0 (2009/2016) 20:10 Commissioned by Bl!ndman Strings

TT 80:18

7 CD

1 Yaron Deutsch, electric guitar Recording dates: 1 Stefan Prins, live-electronics 1 22–23 November 2018 2 6 June 2018 2 Klangforum Wien 3 3–4 September 2018 Olivier Vivarès, clarinets Recording venues: Gerald Preinfalk, saxophones 1 Studio Entropya, Perugia Anders Nyqvist, trumpet 2 Carl Orff Saal/Gasteig, Munich Ivo Nilsson, trombone 3 Studio Champdaction, Antwerp Florian Müller, keyboard Audio recording engineer: Krassimir Sterev, accordion 1 Stefano Bechini/Green Brain Studio Yaron Deutsch, electric guitar 2 Florian Bogner, Peter Böhm Lukas Schiske, percussion 3 Wannes Gonnissen Dimitrios Polisoidis, viola Audio mixing and editing: Uli Fussenegger, double bass 1 Yaron Deutsch Florian Bogner, sound 2 3 Stefan Prins Peter Böhm, sound Audio mixing and mastering: Bas Wiegers, conductor 1 2 3 Stefano Bechini / Green Brain Studio 3 Nadar Ensemble Marieke Berendsen, violin Diamanda La Berge-Dramm, violin Vincent Hepp, viola Peter Matthynssens, cello Wannes Gonnissen, sound Johannes Westendorp, FX pedals Kris Delacourt, FX pedals Stefan Prins, live-electronics

8 Infiltrationen 3.0 Photo: Stefan Prins 9 tuosity: narrative delivered at high speed, but in such a fragmentary way that meaning is almost erased. Details burst out, randomly, seemingly uncon- trollably, each a single frame caught in the light, a point of a life. Narrative – that graceful arc of cause and effect – is replaced by a desperate accumula- tion of moments.

In Prins’s Not I an electric guitar is at- tached to an amplifier, but between At the start of Stefan Prins and Daniel the instrument and the amp is an ad- Linehan’s Third Space, a conductor is ditional digital sound processor. Con- alone, the only physical presence on trolled by a second musician, this an otherwise empty stage. He stands, “black box” interrupts the direct ampli- facing us, in front of a large black scrim. fication of the guitar so that what one The musicians he conducts are invis- hears is frequently not what one sees ible, while the movements of danc- being played. The social contracts of ers, filmed individually and in close-up, western art music are made void: be- are projected behind him. The music tween player and audience (you will groans and hums, with occasional jag- hear whatever I play); between com- ged sparks of noise. As the dancers poser and performer (my written in- stretch and move on camera we can structions will enable you to perform make out every involuntary twitch of my work to the best of your abilities). their muscles. The space is charged, The guitarist is alone, constructing like a giant electrical circuit. herself within an ever-changing sonic space. In Samuel Beckett’s Not I a mouth is alone, the only visible thing in an oth- Prins’s music is made of codes. Not the erwise pitch black space. It belongs digital codes of computers and signal to a woman, who is re-telling her life processors – although it is also made story as a way to cling onto identi- of these – but the pacts and contracts ty. She employs a kind of broken vir- of reciprocity and understanding that

10 hold individuals, societies, and eco- inside of a piano (recorded by the Bel- possibility of flow, or of a shaped musi- systems in dynamic equilibrium. Such gian pianist Frederik Croene) are trig- cal argument, is profoundly challenged. codes are cracked, questioned, even gered by a MIDI keyboard. It becomes In Generation Kill the critique of real- made absurd. Instruments and voices clear that these derive from a series ity is made explicitly political for the act one sound but produce another; of continuous improvisations, but like first time. Screens and projections in notation systems change at will; play- Beckett’s Not I we are only shown dis- front of the four instrumentalists show ers appear in places they cannot be, ordered fragments. Over the course them live and pre-recorded simultane- doing things our ears tell us they can’t of the work’s four sections those du- ously and congruently. Over this is laid be doing; stage becomes auditorium; alities are folded over and over un- a sort of meta-performance, in which private becomes public. til even the reality of listening itself is the actions of the instrumentalists are implicated in the work’s critique. The themselves transformed by four more It begins with sounds that are dis- peculiar spatiality of this process, by players – facing the same way as us, placed at least one step away from the which parallel worlds seem possible in towards the screens; complicit with norm. Clarinets have cigarette papers every dimension, recalls Leibniz’s im- us as receivers – who control the play- under their keys and a laminated card age of matter in his Pacidus to Philale- back that we see and hear by means clipped to their bells; double bass- thes: “caverns endlessly contained in of PlayStation controllers that reverse, es have crushed drink cans between other caverns: no matter how small, speed-up, or otherwise alter the pro- their strings; brass players use plastic each body contains a world pierced jections. In his description of the piece, party whistles instead of mouthpiec- with irregular passages”. Prins draws on metaphors of social es. Nothing is as it seems, or as it was media (particularly in relation to the originally meant to be. The soundworld In Infiltrationen 3.0 the score itself be- revolutions of the Arab Spring of 2011), is noisy, cut with sharp edges and un- comes the alternate-world genera- CCTV surveillance, and drone war- familiar spectra. Cage’s prepared pi- tor. The third version of a piece origi- fare. The title is taken from the 2004 ano is a predecessor, but Prins takes nally written for electric guitar quartet, book and 2008 HBO miniseries by the Cage’s alienating, distorting effect and objects, and live electronics, Infiltra American journalist Evan Wright and applies it to every element of his mu- tionen 3.0 features not only the unpre- inspired by his observation that the sic from sounds to staging. dictable interactions of live and elec- 2003 Gulf War was fought by a “Play- tronic sound, but also a score that is Station generation” of soldiers brought In Piano Hero, among other things a generated in real time by the play- up on warfare as an on-screen game, response to Cage’s Sonatas and Inter- ers themselves and distributed to the mediated by graphics, music, and cin- ludes, reality itself is prepared by the full ensemble through a series of net- ematography. As Prins’s piece pro- overlay of real and virtual, authentic worked laptops. At any given moment, gresses, a cyborg squelch of flesh and and processed, live and recorded. At no player can be completely sure of digital bits, the live footage is increas- first sound and video samples from the what they will need to do next. Any ingly intercut with recorded footage,

11 live close-ups of the game controller After 25 minutes of Third Space the Prins’s collaborator Daniel Linehan. performers, and US military footage scrim behind the conductor is drawn “I essentially created a choreography taken from the on-board cameras of back to reveal the musicians and in which vibration never ceases, in drones and guided missiles. dancers who had been there all along. which vibrations are channeled and There are also seats and benches manifested in different ways through A mirror box is a quasi-medical de- from which the performers stare back the bodies of the dancers. Something vice used in stroke or post-amputa- at the audience, as though aston- private in the dancers is being shaken tion therapy. The patient places their ished. One dancer walks up to an au- to the surface.” affected limb or stump inside the box, dience member. “We have some spac- and their healthy limb alongside, but es on the other side. Would you like to At the time of writing – weeks after separated by a mirror. Viewed from change seats?” Then another: “Can the UN’s devastating report on climate the correct angle, the reflection of the two people follow me into the other change, days before the UK’s Brexit unaffected limb substitutes for the ap- space?” Eventually perhaps a quarter negotiations enter their final phase, pearance of the affected one. Using of the audience is seated among the and in the aftermath of the US mid- this artificial visual feedback, the pa- players: exposed, nervous, possibly term elections – the codes that bind tient is able to move (or “move”) their excited by the unique experience they the world and shape its spaces ap- affected or phantom limb, either to al- are about to have. pear threatened like never before. By leviate pain or perform rehabilitative dismantling such codes, Prins’s music physiotherapy. In fact, the music and choreography of offers more than a spectacle of cha- the second half of the piece repeats os, the consolation of pandemonium. Mirror Box Extensions projects this that of the first (with a long addition- It turns inwards on itself, in intimate idea into musical theatre. The stage is al coda). Only now it looks completely close-up. And it offers, in response, al- organized as a labyrinth of scrims, be- different: the performers are exposed; ternate forms of organization, identity, hind which the musicians may be seen they exist in the flesh; they brush past, and connection. and, alternatively or simultaneously, touch, drape themselves over the mu- on which their images may be project- sicians and audience. Hidden acts Tim Rutherford-Johnson, 2018 ed: a hall of split screens in which the become visible and tactile; private same players may be seen in different spaces become public. The intimate places, from different angles, at differ- actions of the musicians with their in- ent scales and resolutions, and in dif- struments become somehow mag- ferent time streams. At times, even the inified as choreography. “I began to Tim Rutherford-Johnson musicians’ own identities are made understand Stefan’s music as essen- is author of Music after the Fall: Modern Composition fluid, as the video effects overlay them tially infusing the space of the theater and Culture since 1989 and blend them into one another. with multiple levels of vibration”, says (University of California Press).

12 “But then I began to do what to with which you phrase each third all novelists and some poets do: count – and there is evidence of that I began to describe the world on tape! – seems to me incompatible around me.” 1 with your sometimes free, but in time rather strictly coordinated electronics, Ever since your music broke through present in all of your compositions. internationally, it has become hard Dear Stefan, for me to keep track of your where- We have always made a point of watch- abouts. In that sense, you are to me ing the latest Michael Haneke films to- You asked me to write an essay-like Wanderer 2.0, for you share with that gether – i.e., if I do not fall asleep. Or, piece on your work, to be included as figure its Romantic inner experienc- longer ago, those of the recently de- liner notes to this monographic CD/ es. And yet you link these to the very ceased Abbas Kiarostami. Like you, DVD. A privilege, indeed, so I hope best of technological progress, which, they are directors who like to take you will forgive my writing you a letter like Stanley Kubrick, you then submit their time. Time to tell the story and instead. to a fundamental critique. Whenever allow the viewer to reflect. Time also the Wanderer figure is mentioned, one for the creative process, allowing for a Contrary, perhaps, to what you of course thinks of Schubert’s Winter story to appear in-between the works, thought, I am quite possibly the worst reise, which we both prefer in a piano- allowing, in other words, for an oeuvre. person to jot down thoughts on your forte performance (we do have that In spite of clearly being so-called typ- work. As fellow co-artistic leader of much of an ear for timbre) and sung ical “director’s movies,” they still have Nadar and as my close friend, it is im- without vibrato (influenced by contem- something unpretentious, and I think possible for me to maintain an ob- porary German music?). Together – you can find yourself in what Michael jective point of view needed for such you on the piano and me on my cello –, Haneke tries to achieve with his view- considerations. Furthermore, numer- we tried to catch a glimpse of this ex- ers: “The only thing I can do is to make ous fine texts have already been de- istential music, and during that perfor- my audience watch in a sharper way. voted to your work and its relation to mance I immediately recognized the Even if that hurts their eyes.” Which is technology, to the world today, to ava- same corporality with which you al- exactly what happened ten years ago, tars, etc. And they have all been made so manipulate the faders on your in- when we were accused of “ruptured available through your online archives. terface during improvisations. Keys eardrums, chasing away the audience So I am going to try my hand at some- or faders, it does not matter to your from the concert hall” and warnings thing else by talking of your work from musical experience. I must say, how- for “Nadar’s hell.” my own, personal experience. ever, that the rather suspicious ruba-

13 Collage: Pieter Matthynssens

From left to right and high to low: Hologram protest in Spain 2015 Glitched Joseph Haydn, Still from Sunset Boulevard, Still from eXistenZ, Still from The Lady from Shangai, FIFA Online 3 Championship 2015

14 “Don’t panic, it’s just a game.” 2 business e-Sports. In 2017, Anderlecht, Cronenberg’s incredible eXistenZ, in a Belgian Football club, thus gave a which a biotechnological game world is Now that we are talking of images, it gamer, Zakario Bentato, for the first presented. The same questions and has struck me recently how the use time ever a professional contract and experiences the main characters are of screens, of the medium onto which an “office” in the actual players’ lounge, confronted with also hold for Gener one projects, is time and again defin- allowing him to enjoy physical work- ation Kill: “Where are our real bodies? ing for the conceptual substructure of outs and psychological support. And I am worried about my body. I feel dis- your work. As such, I would like to go things truly get out of hand when “re- embodied. I’m losing touch with the back to a beautiful story from 5th B.C. al players” challenge the scores of texture of it.” In combination with the classical Greece. In his Naturalis His- their e-skills determined by game pro- immersive character of this piece, you toria, Pliny the Elder describes the ul- ducers. To me, Generation Kill deals might feel the need, like Ted in eXis- timate paint-off in which Zeuxis paints with these remarkable exchanges be- tenZ, to hit the game’s pause button. grapes in such a realistic way that tween the real and the virtual. As we even the birds bought into his illusion. can see in the picture, the playing field “But as you grow older, Parrhasios, however, tricked Zeuxis or, rather, the battlefield is clearly de- the images don’t become clearer, by having him attempt to draw back a lineated in Generation Kill, and the in- on the contrary, they seem to curtain supposedly hiding his painting. terchangeability of the four game con- superimpose. ” 3 While Zeuxis makes us forget that the trollers is at best a minor glitch in the curtain is present, thereby immersing execution. The interchangeability of In Mirror Box Extensions, you and us into the illusion of mimesis, Parrha- the musicians, however, leads to a fa- Marieke Berendsen built an auditory sios takes it one step further and an- tal error and the end of the piece. The and visual hall of mirrors in movement, ticipates our expectation by perform- four semi-transparent screens, behind which had to be demolished just as in ing a double magic trick. which the “real” musicians take place, Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shang- mark the fluid border area onto which hai. Welles’ “Magic Mirror Maze” is rep- To me your work is a continuation of avatars with superhuman capacities resentative of the many layers of de- Parrhasios’s: you want to outwit the are projected. Yet onto those same ceit, but also of the changing identities viewer, while at the same time you dis- screens the flesh-and-blood musicians the characters have formed through- rupt technology, for instance by hack- can also claim their place in the image out the film. In the final scene,Arthur ing a game controller in Generation Kill. via light switches. When both layers therefore asks Elsa whom she’s point- I recently saw a picture of frenzied fans are simultaneously visible, a strange- ing her gun at: “… These mirrors – it’s who paid to watch gamers play Fifa. In ly hybrid digital-analogous image ap- difficult to tell – you are aiming at me, that sense, the same laws from the “re- pears. This at once technological and aren’t you?”. After a frenzied shootout al world” also hold for the world of big physical world reminds me of David that lasts for about a minute, the light

15 is turned on and the damage is ascer- becq, whose novels have no other or ple who grew up without technology, tained. No more mirrors, only the cold deeper meaning than drawing back and the first to embrace social media reality of death. the curtains, and showing life on earth and online dating in their twenties. Bas in all its nakedness. For you, this na- Wiegers conducts a shadow orchestra, In Mirror Box Extensions, too, you kedness is one in which music has and looks us directly in the eye – an peel off all visual and auditory lay- disintegrated to fake camera sounds, unusual and privileged perspective for ers. In 2015, Spanish activists cleverly and image to short, worthless reflec- the spectator. sidestepped a law against protesting tions. The nearly physical reactions of in the vicinity of governmental build- the audience were clear enough, as it Yet Daniel and you did not build a wall, ings by organising a protest of holo- did not know whether the tablet play- on the contrary. We get clues that we grams. “You will only be allowed to ex- ers were part of the piece, or not: the are witnessing a live performance. A press yourself freely as a hologram,” narcissism of today’s selfie culture has dancer subtly touches the screen that their spokeswoman said. In your com- no place in a classical theatre, the last has a texture nearly as tender as the position it is not protesting holograms, stronghold warding off the barbarians. curved marble of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. but musical avatars that take over the stage until their identities merge. Then “Alright Mr DeMille, I’m ready for The entire screen is then lifted, and we get extremely large close-ups of my close-up.” 4 part of the audience is invited onto musicians that, together with images the stage. Such breaking of the fourth taken with tablets in the crowd, com- And then the curtain closes in your wall reminds me of Billy Wilder’s work, bine to show a fragmented image of most recent piece, Third Space, which another American director. In the fi- the musicians, similar to the explod- you realised with the choreographer nal scene of Sunset Boulevard, Nor- ed views of the Mexican artist Damián Daniel Linehan. There is little informa- ma Desmond thinks she is on set, while Ortega. It is as though the avatar tion about who, or what happens on in reality she is surrounded by the me- bursts apart into an infinite number of stage. Short projections of dancers in dia who want to cover her murder of a pieces, just like Narcissus’s face when close-up do not allow us to mentally scriptwriter. By communicating direct- he bent too deeply into the water of form the space behind the screen, and ly with the audience – “those wonder- the pond. In the end, Narcissus’s lips aurally we are also kept in the dark. We ful people out there in the dark” –, it is were left to touch nothing else but the do not see any musicians, but we do no longer clear whether we are being cold water itself. The work ends with hear electronics that blend with the drawn into the film and Norma’s uni- the audience taking selfies, as the fo- sound of amplified acoustic instru- verse, or whether she is leaving behind cus has shifted to the reality of the ments. This results in a musical uni- the screen to join the spectator’s world. other side of the stage. It reminds me verse that might seem typical of us, of the French novelist Michel Houelle- “xennials,” the last generation of peo-

16 In Third Space, the performance starts shattered worldview, whose pieces we all over again when the curtain is are still picking up. Baudet wants to re- drawn back, but this time, part of the turn to an era of melodious music, an audience smells and feels the per- era when everything neatly matched formers while at the same time realiz- its label, backed by a single truth. ing they are part of the performance for which they bought tickets. The re- Bearing in mind certain recent events, mainder of the audience is probably to me your music gets its perhaps left behind in uncertainty. Should they most important significance: it is mu- have taken their chances and cross sic that exists in reordering all these over, or was it safer, indeed, to watch broken pieces in a highly idiosyncratic everything from a distance? manner. It is not music that mourns an undefined feeling of loss, but one that “Nadar’s Hell.” I do want to come back chooses resolutely to look into the fu- to that before concluding this letter. ture with confidence. That “hell” refers to the much bigger is- sue of, excusez le mot, “contemporary Pieter Matthynssens classical music” felt by more main- stream audiences. In his search for translation by an aesthetic compass, the Dutch pol- Peter Cockelbergh itician Thierry Baudet used the following metaphor, perfectly chosen from a strategic point of view, and coming close to Leonard Bernstein’s infamous closing of his Unanswered Question Lecture. Baudet: “Ice crystals form beautiful constellations upon hearing 1 M. Atwood Haydn’s music, whereas they turn to 2 Allegra Geller, eXistenZ, chaos and decay in response to less Steven Soderbergh 3 Claire Goll, All is Vanity melodious sounds.” Less melodious 4 Norma Desmond, music thus fits a fragmented, or even Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder

17 STEFAN PRINS After graduating as an engineer, Stefan Prins (Kortrijk, Belgium, 1979) studied piano and composition at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, Bel- gium. Concurrently, he studied “Tech- nology in Music“ at the Royal Conser- vatory of Brussels, “Sonology“ at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and “Philosophy of Culture” and “Philoso- phy of Technology” at the University of Antwerp. In 2011 he moved to Cam- bridge, Mass., USA, to start a PhD in composition at Harvard University under the guidance of Chaya Czernow- in and Hans Tutschku, which he ob- tained in 2017. Photo: Bas Wiegers In his compositional work Prins seeks to critique received convention, to As a composer he received sever- break the framework of the usual, and al important awards in Belgium and dispose of aesthetic axioms. He envi- abroad, such as the “Berliner Kunst- sions a musical art form beyond the preis für Musik” (2016), “ISCM Young safe confines of the “scene”, where- Composer Award” (2014), “Kranich- in the connection to the larger cultur- steiner Musikpreis für Komposition” al discourse has gotten lost. A central (Darmstadt, 2010), a “Staubach Hono- precondition for the making of a new rarium” (Darmstadt, 2009) and the “In- music with a future is the role of the ternational Impuls Composition Award” aware, critical observer, one who is (Graz, 2009). In 2014 he became lau- prepared to exploit the technologies reate of the Royal Flemish Academy and mechanisms of the prefabricated of Belgium for the Sciences and Arts media with a view to their possibilities in the Class of the Arts. for new music. – Stefan Prins lives up to this calling. In 2012 the “Union of Belgian Music Journalists” elected him “Young Bel- Michael Rebhahn, 2012 gian Musician of the Year”.

18 Stefan Prins is, together with Pieter NADAR ENSEMBLE Matthynssens, artistic co-director of the Nadar Ensemble, and was one of the founders of the long-standing trio for improvised music “collectief re- FLEXible” and the band “Ministry of Bad Decisions” (this last one together with percussionist Brian Archinal and e-guitarist Yaron Deutsch).

His music has been played by a.o. Photo: Klangforum Wien, Nadar Ensemble, Concertgebouw, Brugge David Samyn Since its foundation in 2006, the Ictus Ensemble, Nikel Ensemble, En- Flemish new music ensemble Na- semble Mosaik, MusikFabrik, Trio Ac- dar has become a familiar presence canto, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble in the national and international new Recherche, Athelas Sinfonietta, En- music circuit. As often in this gen- semble Proton Bern, Zwerm Electric eration of new music ensembles, it Guitar Quartet, Champ d’Action, De- started as a group of likeminded mu- coder Ensemble on festivals such as sicians, gathered around a shared the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the passion for contemporary music, and Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Wittener Tage more specifically for innovative cur- für Neue Musik, Eclat, Warsaw Autumn, rent developments. Yet, Nadar is any- Gaudeamus Festival, Musica Stras- thing but an institutionalized ensemble bourg, Ars Musica, Tzlil Meudcan, Im- ready to perform any contemporary puls Festival, Huddersfield Contempo- work that an organizer might sug- rary Music Festival and Ultima Festival. gest, nor is it much concerned with the repertoire from the previous cen- His preferred color is blood-red. tury. Taking their name from the pseu- donym of author, caricaturist and pho- stefanprins.be tography pioneer Gaspard-Félix Tour- vimeo.com/stefanprins nachon (1820–1910), there is a delib- youtube.com/klangklank erate maverick attitude, which they soundcloud.com/stefan-prins share with the artist whose name they borrowed. Their artistic mission firm-

19 ly highlights current musical directions Nadar Ensemble is artist-in-residence and is very much directed towards at the Concertgebouw Brugge (2017 specific aesthetic positions, involving to 2022) and is structurally funded by alternative concert settings, electron- the Flemish Government. ics and particularly multimedia. nadarensemble.be Whether theatrical, multimedia-based or otherwise, Nadar places performa- tivity at the core of their artistic prac- tice, developing their affinity with cut- ting-edge musical developments in combination with dramaturgically de- vised settings, strategies or concepts that maximize the potential for recon- figuring the audience experience. And preferably, this happens in collaboration with composers who are already exploring such strategies within their work, such as Steen-Andersen, Prins or Beil.

In a sense, Nadar presents a 21st-century model of what a new music ensemble can be: not a “miniature” orchestra at the service of whatever an organizer or composer desires, but an active artistic partner with an identi- fiable aesthetic vision, encapsulated in a shared collective identity of joint- ly taking responsibility for that artistic mission.

Maarten Beirens, 2018

20 KLANGFORUM WIEN tion, Klangforum Wien could look back on a discography of over 70 CDs (to date, 67 on KAIROS alone), a series of honours and prizes and around 2,000 appearances at renowned festivals and in the premiere concert and op- era venues in Europe, the Americas and Japan, as well as various youth- ful and original initiatives. Like art itself, Klangforum Wien is nothing but a force, barely disguised by its me- Photo: Judith Schlosser tier, to improve the world. The moment they step onto the podium, the musicians know that only one thing 24 musicians from ten different coun- counts: everything. Love of their art tries represent an artistic idea and a and the absoluteness of this convic- personal approach that aims to re- tion are what makes their concerts store to their art something that unique. The members of Klangforum seems to have been lost, gradually, al- Wien come from Australia, Bulgaria, most inadvertently, during the course Germany, Finland, France, Greece, It- of the 20th century: music which has aly, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland. a place in the present, in the commu- Sylvain Cambreling, Friedrich Cerha nity for which it was written and that and Beat Furrer are three outstanding wants to hear it. Ever since its first musicians who have been awarded an concert, which the ensemble played honorary membership of Klangforum under its former name, the Societé de Wien through a unanimous decision l’Art Acoustique, at the Palais Liech- by the ensemble. Starting with the tenstein under the baton of its found- 2018/2019 season, Bas Wiegers takes er Beat Furrer, Klangforum Wien has on the role of principal guest conduc- made musical history. The ensemble tor from Sylvain Cambreling, who re- has premiered roughly 500 new piec- mains associated with the ensemble es by composers from three conti- as principal guest conductor emeritus. nents, giving voice to their music for the first time. If given to introspec- klangforum.at

21 STEPHANE GINSBURGH Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Stefan Prins and Matthew Shlomowitz whose works he premiered — as well as with choreog- raphers and visual artists.

Stephane Ginsburgh has recorded Sergey Prokofiev’s complete piano sonatas for Cypres Records, Mor- ton Feldman, Erik Satie and Marcel Duchamp for Sub Rosa, and Antho- ny Burgess for Naxos Grand Piano. He studied with Paul Badura-Skoda, Claude Helffer, Jerome Lowenthal and Vitaly Margulis. Stephane Ginsburgh has been praised for his daring piano playing and ap- ginsburgh.net pears regularly in recitals and chamber music worldwide. He has performed at numerous international festivals such as Ars Musica, Quincena Musi- cal, ZKM Imatronic, Agora Ircam, Bach Photo: Marie-Clémence David Academie Brugge, Moscow Autumn Festival, Ultima Oslo, Darmstadt Fe- rienkurse, Warsaw Autumn and Gaida.

He is a tireless surveyor of the repertoire but also explores new combi- nations including voice, percussion, performance or electronics, and ded- icates much of his energy to contemporary music. He plays with the Ictus Ensemble. He collaborated with many composers — Frederic Rzewski, James Tenney, Philippe Boesmans,

22 YARON DEUTSCH Deutsch is also an active improviser playing in the groups “Synthetic Skin” and “Ministry of Bad Decisions” (the latter also includes Stefan Prins on electronics). Recordings featuring his playing are available on Kairos, Col Legno, Neos, Sub Rosa and Wergo music labels.

Apart from his performative activities, he taught at the IMPULS Academy, Photo: Markus Sepperer Graz (2015) and since 2016 he leads the guitar class at the Internation- al Summer Courses for New Music in Yaron Deutsch (Tel Aviv, 1978) is an Darmstadt. Since 2010 he is the cura- electric guitar player mostly known tor of “Tzlil Meudcan” (In Hebrew: “Up- for his work in the field of contempo- dated Tone”) – The International Fes- rary (classical) music. He is the found- tival for Contemporary Music, Tel Aviv, er and artistic director of the chamber Israel. quartet NIKEL and is a frequent guest at the Vienna based Klangforum Wien Ensemble.

With composer Stefan Prins he has been collaborating closely since 2010. This collaboration resulted so far in the premiere of four new works: Fremd körper #2 (2010), Flesh & Prosteshis #0–2 (2013–14), I’m your Body (2015) and Third Space (2018) which makes Not I for electric guitar solo and electronics (also featured on this cd) to be the first time the two work on an earli- er piece from Prins’ catalogue.

23 DANIEL LINEHAN among other artists. In 2007, he premiered the solo Not About Every thing, which has since been presented in over 75 venues internationally. In 2008, Linehan moved to Brussels where he completed the Research Cycle at P.A.R.T.S. His works created in Belgium include Montage for Three (2009), Zombie Aporia (2011), Gaze is a Gap is a Ghost (2012), The Kara oke Dialogues (2014), Un Sacre du Printemps (2015), dbddbb (2015), and Flood (2017). In 2018, Linehan collaborated with composer Stefan Prins to Hiatus is the production company of create Third Space, a work for 7 danc- choreographer and dancer Daniel ers, conductor Bas Wiegers, and 10 Linehan. musicians from the music ensemble Klangforum Wien. Linehan is regularly Linehan’s choreographic work is in- invited as a guest teacher and mentor tent on softly obscuring the line that at dance institutions worldwide. separates dance from everything else. He approaches performance-making Since 2015 Hiatus is supported by the from the point of view of a curious am- Flemish authorities. ateur, testing various interactions be- Photo: Bart Grietens tween dance and non-dance forms, Daniel Linehan is a Creative Associate searching for unlikely conjunctions, at deSingel International Arts Campus juxtapositions, and parallels between 2017–2021. texts, movements, images, songs, videos, and rhythms.

Linehan first studied dance in Seattle and then moved to New York in 2004. As a performer, Linehan worked with Miguel Gutierrez and Big Art Group,

24 With fi nancial support from With additional support from We would like to take this opportunity to thank the following people the Flemish government, deSingel International Arts Campus, All involved musicians, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Champdaction, ICST Zürich, commissioners and co/producers Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Münchener Biennale für Neues Musik- Pieter Matthynssens Brussels Art Platform, theater, Ernst von Siemens Musik- Stephane Ginsburgh Erasumus Hogeschool Brussel stiftung, Nadar Ensemble, Andreas Karl and Hiatus Klangforum Wien Maarten Quanten Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Nadar Ensemble Yaron Deutsch Champdaction deSingel International Arts Campus Klangforum Wien Germán Toro-Perez Chaya Czernowin = KGN Hans Tutschku

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25 STEFAN PRINS (*1979)

DVD CD

1 Generation Kill 1 Not I (2012) 26:03 (2007/2018) 17:53

2 Mirror Box Extensions 2 Third Space (2014/2015) 36:02 (2016–2018) 42:15

3 – 6 Piano Hero #1–4 3 Infiltrationen 3.0 (2011–2017) 59:57 (2009/2016) 20:10 7 Third Space TT 80:18 (2016–2018) 80:55

TT 202:57 Yaron Deutsch, electric guitar Stefan Prins, live-electronics Klangforum Wien . Bas Wiegers Nadar Ensemble Stephane Ginsburgh

LC 10488 D D D 0015044KAI . ISRC (CD): ATTE41954401 to 03 . Made in Germany Cover art work by Stefan Prins (image from Generation Kill )