CANCELLED: Chornacht

Lovers of contemporary vocal music get their money’s worth at the new festival »Elbphilharmonie Visions« when not one but two top choirs appear in the Grand Hall, each of them performing one half of the concert. If we add everything up, they have given the first performances of several hundred works, and maintain close connections with many living composers. They offer a musical panorama of the last 30 years of choral music – with fascinating sounds, extravagant vocal techniques and difficult use of language.

The first half of the evening is given over to a varied selection of music sung by the NDR Chor. After the interval we hear the SWR Vokalensemble from Stuttgart together with the Cologne instrumental ensemble Musikfabrik, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. They honour the current Elbphilharmonie Composer in Residence György Kurtág, one of today’s great masters (something he would probably vehemently dispute), with whom the choir has collaborated frequently in the past. The centrepiece here are Kurtág’s six intense songs entitled »Lieder der Schwermut und der Trauer« (Songs of Melancholy and Mourning). The composer spent 15 years honing them, which gives an indication of the meticulous care he brings to his work.