Composition Commission issued to Hans-Joachim Hespos

KunstAuditiv Dresden e.V., Germany

In 2012 AUDITIVVOKAL will be celebrating its fifth anniversary. To mark the occasion the ensemble has devised a special program devoted to the humor often found lacking in New Music. 
Laughter defies all order: it breaks out unexpectedly, it is untamed and liberating, chaos-inciting and refreshing – the ultimate expression of life. And laughter is something apparently sought in vain at contemporary music concerts: it is an unexplained phenomenon why New Music is often described as humorless. Yet, are there not hidden away many works that subtly tickle the ribs in shimmering flights of fancy with grotesque, indeed cabaret-like scenes without resorting to the bland knee-slapping entertainment of television today?
In collaboration with director Sylvia Freitag AUDITIVVOKAL has done in-depth research and put together a program that grants humor its rightful place. Here the meaning of the word comic is taken literally: the anniversary is to be celebrated as a musical procession or “Enkomikos” deriving from the Ancient Greek word for cosmos. The choice of works is a furious line-up of humoristic compositions of current, contemporary vocal music.
With the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation AUDITIVVOKAL has for this program issued a composition commission to Hans-Joachim Hespos. According to the composer, his new work “kaps” for eight a cappella voices will strikingly stage a series of incidents and set these to music. 


Premiere: October 7, 2012
Festspielhaus Hellerau (Festival TonLagen)

Further Information:
www.auditivvokal.de