Grafenegg Academy

This year, participants in the Grafenegg Academy can look forward to an extraordinary project: together with one of today’s most renowned composers, they will work on the world premiere of a new piece. In addition, they will have the opportunity to reflect on the significance of art and its place in society in discussions, excursions and lectures with experts from various fields.

Starting point is the personal story of Mollena Lee Williams-Haas: in an autobiographical text, the actress, author, performer and activist describes her difficult journey from a self-destructive alcohol addiction to abstinence. Her inner demon appears in personified form as a hyena. Her husband, Georg Friedrich Haas, Composer in Residence in Grafenegg in 2022, wrote the captivating music for this narrative. In 2016, a deeply impressed Wien Modern audience experienced the world premiere of «Hyena». The film version of this piece (2021, Direction: Jack Perez) forms the first part of a day focusing on the multi-layered soundscapes of Georg Friedrich Haas.

Two works commissioned for Grafenegg will be premiered: «Hyena II» for storyteller and orchestra, narrated by the author and performed by the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra under the conductor Ilan Volkov, and as a concluding third part and textless epilogue, «Hyena III» for four pianos tuned to microtonal intervals. An interdisciplinary programme will explore the topic of self-destruction and resurrection that underlies the works in a broader, discursive context. This will include a public panel discussion as well moderated by Axel Bruggemann with participants from various disciplines, rounding off a moving concert day that blurs the boundaries between art and life.