Musical Theater for a Percussionist – Composition Commission issued to Hanna Eimermacher and So Jeong Ahn

Christian Dierstein, Freiburg, Germany

With the two composers Hanna Eimermacher and So Jeong Ahn percussion serves to open up a field of experimentation – with each composer interested in different insights. In her work Hanna Eimermacher would like to determine the stage as a space for maximum heightening of the senses. What is the relationship between the body and the stage, between the instruments, sound and form? No other instruments would be more suitable to illustrate this issue than percussion with all their physical challenges. Her stage concept consisting of rotating discs generates the impression of dissolved forms and zero gravity – normal perception is overridden and space ensues for new experiences.

So Jeong Ahn also stages the human body as the most immediate tool for human forms of expression. The dynamic active-reactive relationship between body and instruments that she highlights is also illustrated particularly well through percussion. Via the instruments the composer explores which elements define a body as human. The work deals with the human unit and bears the onomatopoeic Korean title MOM – MAL – HON (which in English means body – word – mind). The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is supporting the two composition commissions.

February 15, 2015
Graz, Austria

March 15, 2015
Salzburg Biennale, Austria

Further Information:
www.christiandierstein.de