Festival Archipel 2019: Archip-elles

Festival Archipel, Musiques d'aujourd'hui, Geneva, Switzerland


Archipel is a festival of contemporary music in Geneva, which in 2019 covers 18 events, concerts, shows as well as academy-sessions and installations: 82 works by 49 composers performed by 48 ensembles and soloists, all focussed this year on women. The programming takes a wide aim from the beginning of the previous century all the way up to the present with names such as Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Galina Ustvolskaya, Betsy Jolas, Sofia Goubaïdoulina, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Kaija Saariaho, Chaya Czernowin, Edith Canat de Chizy, Unsuk Chin, Bettina Skrzypczak, Isabel Mundry, Liza Lim, Rebecca Saunders, Joanna Bailie, Malin Bång, Hanna Eimermacher, Elvira Garifzyanova, Clara Iannotta, Chia-Ying Lin, Misato Mochizuki, Nurulla-Khoja Farangis and Leilei Tian. Even if the festival doesn’t aim to speak of a particular feminine form of music, it nevertheless dedicates itself to the image of female artists and artistry that began its development in the 1970s and was influenced by personalities such as Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Diamanda Galas and Yoko Ono. Because a career as a singer appeared plausible, many female artists created a new genre on the periphery of song, composition, improvisation and multimedia that quickly found success. Archip-elles gives space to Erin Gee and Jessie Marino from New York, Jennifer Walshe from Ireland, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri from Greece, Elena Rykova and Olga Kokcharova from Russia and Barblina Meierhans from Switzerland. This year’s academy event focusses on vocal music. Under the direction of Katharina Rosenberger, seven young composers under the age of 30 will get the opportunity to create vocal pieces, with the results being performed by the Neuen Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. The festival is supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.


March 28 – April 7, 2019
Various locations in Geneva, Switzerland


Further information:
archipel.org