Composition Commission issued to Jorge Sánchez-Chiong

progetto semiserio, Vienna, Austria

When Vienna was bombed during the Second World War in 1945, St. Stephen's Cathedral was also ravaged beyond recognition by a devastating fire. In 1960 St. Stephen's Cathedral was rebuilt. However, only on Easter Sunday 2020 is the restored organ to ring out in its original splendor after 75 years. This closes the final wound of immeasurable desecration. As a reference to the historical significance of this completion, digitally recorded sounds of the organ are being pressed onto vinyl in the composition Die letzte Wunde (The Last Wound).

In collaboration with the choral school Choralschola der Wiener Dommusik, composer and musician Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, is working on a concert program featuring the unusual combination and juxtaposition of Gregorian chant and contemporary electronic composition. Jorge Sánchez-Chiong uses chorales from the Lamentations of Jeremiah in many different ways as a vehicle to emit his sound compositions into the acoustically seemingly infinite space of Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. The musical interaction takes place between the 12-member Choralschola, live electronics along with the organ sounds the cathedral's massive new organ pressed onto the vinyl.

Further Information:
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