Concert Installation

MAKIKO NISHIKAZE
morepianos I, II
for 9 pianos (2013) WP
Commissioned by the De la Motte Music Foundation, Lieselotte Klein Foundation and Berliner Festspiele / MaerzMusik

Intermezzo:
Makiko Nishikaze and Helga de la Motte-Haber in discussion

Clara Calero Durán / Anne-Christine Cettou / Christiane Fruchtenicht / Daniel Martinez Roura / Óscar Piniella / Jenny Ribbat / Martin Roever / Elena Schöndorf / Maria da Rocha, piano / performance

She has already composed several works for the piano, but with her composition for nine pianos she truly stretches the boundaries of this genre. Berlin-based Japanese composer Makiko Nishikaze is known for her subtle musical experiments, in which she unites performative, theatrical and visual elements. She has created a very special ensemble concept for her new two-part composition, “morepianos”, in order to create a unique “sounding body” with the nine pianists. The pianists – largely interpreters still in training – operate as actors, without a conductor and a stop watch. The interaction of the musicians and the course of the composition are coordinated solely by listening to one another. The musical sound generated by the temporary piano ensemble is staged throughout the space. The movement generated by positioning or repositioning the pianos is part of the composition. Instruments and their players become actors in a common sound space created by themselves.

In cooperation with Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Alt-Schöneberg and Klangzeitort – Institut für Neue Musik of the UdK Berlin and HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin.

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