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Parkinson Project

With works by

Iris ter Schiphorst, Nikolaus Brass, Evis Sammoutis, Bernhard Lang

 

At the heart of the project are artistic perspectives on the life-altering phenomena of Parkinson’s disease.

What unites all the compositions is their celebration of the fragile beauty of life in all its facets, providing a resonance space for the sadness over life’s transience while attempting to answer the profound questions of perception and identity.
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Parkinson Project

Neue Vocalsolisten and Gareth Davis

 

»The spirit remains awake, imprisoned in the stiffened body«

 

 

 

 

 
Zu sehen ist ein Portrait des Komponisten Bernhard Lang.
Zu sehen ist ein Portrait des Komponisten Bernhard Lang.
Zu sehen ist ein Portrait des Komponisten Bernhard Lang.
Bernhard Lang
© Harald Hoffmann
Iris ter Schiphorst
© Bettina Stöß
Nikolaus Brass
© Robert Fischer
Evis Sammoutis
© Desiree Stadnick

Project description

 

Nearly all of us will have to deal with Parkinson’s disease at some point in our lives, experiencing it personally in some way. Parkinson’s has long since become a widespread condition, not only among the elderly; it is medically researched yet remains elusive. The manifestations and progressions of the disease are varied and therefore difficult to predict.

 

The heart of the project is Lang’s »Cheap Opera #3 May,« a multimedia piece that, with Lang’s characteristic motoric energy and texts by May Kooreman, creates a psychedelic soundscape.

 

The Dutch architect May Kooreman, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at a young age, shares her personal experience of the illness through her own texts, and her foundation, MaySays, provides comprehensive information about its background. Together with bass clarinettist Gareth Davis and composer Bernhard Lang, the idea for this artistic project was born, premiering in October 2022 at the Donaueschinger Musiktage. Four pieces for voices and bass clarinet were created for Davis and the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, each approaching the theme in uniquely diverse and captivating ways.

 

Voices from an acoustic no man’s land, distorted sonic worlds on uncertain harmonic ground, extreme interplay of energetic states, struggling to affirm one’s own body, loss of language and articulation—how does one perceive when only the ear and eye can process sensory impressions? The works of Iris ter Schiphorst, Nikolaus Brass, and Evis Sammoutis find their own compelling ways to access a world that can only be vaguely imagined.

 

Works

 

The four pieces can be presented in a single concert with an intermission or in two separate concerts.

 

Bernhard Lang: Cheap Opera #3 May

for six voices, bass clarinet, electronics and video (47‘)

 

Nikolaus Brass: Heliotrop

for six voices and bass clarinet (18‘)

 

Iris ter Schiphorst: Ordnung und Struktur

for bass, bass clarinet and electronics (11‘)

 

Evis Sammoutis: In Darkness

for bass clarinet and six voices with additional instruments (18‘)