Striving for Light – A Journey with Karlheinz Stockhausen

stranger in company, Basel, Schweiz

Striving for Light is a three-day journey into the world of Karlheinz Stockhausen that forms an arc over the composer’s creativity. The project will be supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The journey consists of two concert halves in which Michael Leibundgut will perform selected pieces alongside each other for the first time. One half of the concert combines the two works Capricorn and Havona, while the other features Cosmic Pulses and Kontakte. Both halves are self-contained and related in terms of content but they are not fixed in terms of sequence. Each half is to run for about 60 minutes. Vocal soloist Michael Leibundgut represents Stockhausen’s work on stage. Here he not only assumes the roles of the singer but also allows a complete world of images and movement to unfold through his performance. The work follows Stockhausen’s instructions which not only provide suggestions for the color of the clothing but also stage design as well as a repertoire of movements and gestures. The imaging in Striving for Light comes care of a collaboration with Nicole Miescher who produces the photographic material for the pieces Capricorn / Havona combining this into an animated sequence like a film. These images accompany the complete work and are projected onto a screen that is suspended across the entire stage area. Cosmic Pulses / Kontakte is realized without any visual implementation and without singers as the music is purely electronic. The space will be completely dark and will only contain few light sources.

January 8 – 10, 2015
Gare du Nord, Basel
 

Further Information:
www.strangerincompany.ch