INK STILL WET COMPOSER CODUCTOR-WORKSHOP

COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE 2021

PARTICIPANTS 2021

WORKHOP SCHEDULE

#INKSTILLWET #CampusGrafenegg

INK STILL WET Composer Conductor Workshop

A central pillar of the Grafenegg Festival is the Composer in Residence programme, which every year shines a light on an eminent composer of contemporary music. During their stay in Grafenegg, the distinguished composers premiere their own works, but are also there to give advice and support to young colleagues in the workshop INK STILL WET.

The concept of INK STILL WET is an entirely unique one. Working with a professional orchestra, the Tonkunstler Orchestra, and coached throughout the process by the festival's Composer in Residence, young composers have the opportunity to rehearse one of their own symphonic pieces composed for the workshop and give its world premiere in the Grafenegg Festival.

Previous years have shown how important and multi-layered these workshops are for the young composers. What has only existed in their head or on paper is now tested in the exchange between the performing musicians and its performance on a major concert platform. Do the imagined sounds pass the trial run, or do they need to be revised? Is there a better way to notate one or another musical idea? Or, more fundamentally: as a young composer, how do you approach a long-established professional orchestra, and how do you explain or, when necessary, defend your musical ideas?

INK STILL WET takes place in two phases, in spring and summer.

Through INK STILL WET, Campus Grafenegg is an Associated Partner of ricordilab, music publisher Ricordi Berlin's international programme for the promotion of young composers.

COMPSER IN RESIDENCE 2021

WORKSHOP LEADER

«We hear the individual notes and appreciate, at the same time, the process of how the notes are born and then die: a sound landscape of continual ‘becoming’ that is animated in itself.»
Toshio Hosokawa

Toshio Hosokawa, Japan’s pre-eminent living composer, creates his distinctive musical language from the fascinating relationship between Western avant-garde art and traditional Japanese culture. His music is strongly connected to the aesthetic and spiritual roots of the Japanese arts (such as calligraphy), as well as to those of Japanese court music (such as Gagaku). He gives musical expression to notions of beauty rooted in transience.

Born in Hiroshima in 1955, Toshio Hosokawa came to Germany in 1976, where he studied composition with Isang Yun, Brian Ferneyhough, and later, Klaus Huber. Although his initial compositions drew inspiration from the Western avant-garde, he gradually built a new musical world between East and West. In the last few years, Toshio Hosokawa has written numerous orchestral works, including pieces for the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic. Many of Toshio Hosokawa’s earlier music theatre works have become part of the repertoire of major opera houses. Toshio Hosokawa continues to compose works that focus on nature themes, such as the horn concerto «Moment of Blossoming» for Stefan Dohr and the Berlin Philharmonic (2011). Since 2003 he has been composing a loose sequence entitled «Voyages» for solo instrument and ensemble. In some of these works he combines Japanese and European instruments, as in «Voyages X – Nozarashi» for shakuhachi and ensemble. Traditional Japanese instruments such as the shō or koto also feature elsewhere in his oeuvre, which comprises some 130 compositions.

PARTICIPANTS 2021

«I’m honored and humbled to be accepted to participate in the INK STILL WET workshop. I look forward to working and learning from Maestro Toshio Hosokawa and the Tonkunstler Orchestra.»

Shiuan Chang
Taiwan

«I am really glad to write for orchestra again. Especially in this context: being able to discuss the piece with Toshio Hosokawa and having the pleasure to accompany it to the stage as conductor.»

Etienne Haan
France

«I hope I can produce my ideal sound through conducting！ Looking forward to being there, when my work is becoming to real sound. I should realise a lot through conducting.»

Nana Kamiyama
Japan

«I am very happy and honored to have been selected as one of the participants of the INK STILL WET workshop 2021 and I am very much looking forward to working with the great and inspiring Toshio Hosokawa and meeting the other participants! Thank you so much for having me.»

Aron Ludwig
Germany

«I began with composing when I was 8 and ever since then have been developing in very refined direction, which I could describe as a juncture of pure intuition, strong structure and conceptual way of thinking. It will be a great pleasure and privilege to experience collaboration with Toshio Hosokawa and Tonkunstler Orchestra, and to create music and art together.»

Hristina Susak
Serbia

«I am pleased to participate in INK STILL WET of the Grafenegg festival which is a great opportunity for me to conduct my own music for the first time. I’m looking forward to meeting all the colleagues, Mr Hosokawa and the musicians of the Tonkunstler Orchestra in August.»

Donghoon Shin
South Korea

WHAT DO WE OFFER

The workshop takes place in two work phases. Part 1 of the workshop, which takes allows the participating composers the opportunity to work on and complete their work with the workshop leader, section leaders of the Orchestra. Part 2 taking place during the Grafenegg Festival, the workshop’s focus is on the preparation of the world premiere: participants will have the unique opportunity to rehearse their own compositions as conductors with the Tonkunstler Orchestra and present their works in concert.

The composer in residence works with the participating composers on the fine-tuning of their works and supports them in the preparation of conducting their pieces. The experience of performing one’s own composition from the conductor's desk allows to gain a new perspective on one's own work. Overcoming possible barriers between composers and the musicians in charge of executing the piece as well as the promotion of creative exchange are at the heart of the workshop.

All orchestra rehearsals are documented in detail, so that the participants and workshop leader by way of video analysis of the rehearsals and the participants’ conducting can continuously work on the realisation of pieces and the realisation of the participants’ musical ideas.

The compositions of all participating composers will be presented in a final concert in the Auditorium Grafenegg on 20 August 2021 at 4.30 pm. After the concert an artist talk with the participants and the concert audience allows further insights.

SCHEDULE

The schedule will include daily rehearsals, Music Lab lectures and workshops, discussions, open rehearsals and other social gatherings.

Workshop Part 1

13th - 14th March 2021, Online

Score analysis and working on the compositions of the applicants

Workshop Part 2

13 – 20 August 2021, Grafenegg

13 – 19 August
Orchestra rehearsals, conducting coaching with 2 pianos, video analysis of the orchestra rehearsals & Music Labs with concert promoters (Philipp Stein, Grafenegg Festival) and music publishers (tba)

19 August
General rehearsal INK STILL WET

20 August
INK STILL WET Closing concert
Artists talk
Feedback

(Subject to changes)

Akkordeon stop