Date / Place I

19 May 2017 Gare du Nord, Basel

Date / Place II

20 May 2017 Gare du Nord, Basel

Series

Phoenix

Title

“Luc Ferrari”

Program

Luc Ferrari (1929–2005) “Portraits de femmes” (portraits of women) for female voice, two clarinets, percussion, synthesizer, piano and two tape recorders (1994) – 80’

Musicians

Anne-May Krüger
mezzo-soprano
Jürg Henneberger
conductor
Toshiko Sakakibara
clarinet, bass clarinet
Donna Molinari
clarinet, bass clarinet
Daniel Stalder
percussion
Helga Karen
piano
Samuel Wettstein
synthesizer, keyboard
Thomas Peter
electronics

Program description

In line with our endeavour not to forget the roots of contemporary music and to make them heard again, we are dedicating this concert exclusively to Luc Ferrari’s compositional work. Initially a student of Alfred Cortot (piano) and Arthur Honegger (composition), he was soon in contact with the most important composers of his time (Varèse, Stockhausen, Nono, Maderna and Cage).

In the 1950s, Luc Ferrari was one of the great pioneers of electronic music and, together with Pierre Schaeffer, co-founder of “musique concrète”.

With the performance of his full-length concert spectacle “Portraits de femmes” from 1994 and the inclusion of electronics and two playback tapes, we bear witness to a largely forgotten facet of Luc Ferrari’s important compositional oeuvre.

Jürg Henneberger