This year’s Donaueschinger Musiktage will feature two exiting new world premieres by Maja S. K. Ratkje and Eivind Buene.
On October 14, the festival opens with Ratkje’s Considering Icarus for trombone and orchestra, performed by soloist Stephan Menotti and SWR Symphonieorchester, under the direction of Brad Lubman.
The work is inspired by the 1960 poem by Anne Sexton called To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph about Icarus acclaiming the sun. A poem that the composer sees as an encouraging advice to reach the sun.
If you never tried, you'll never know. I thought it fitted very well to the trombone concerto and the soloist's determined will to make the music fly.
- Maja S. K. Ratkje
On October 15, Trio Accanto and SWR Experimentalstudio will be performing the world premiere of Eivind Buene’s new work for percussion, tenor saxophone and live electronics Personal Best.
Personal Best is an investigation of these two ensembles.
Looking at Trio Accanto on stage, you see three very accomplished musicians playing together in a somewhat unconventional combination of instruments. But you also see an ensemble that embody a history of New Music, as collective and as individuals, having performed an enormous amount of repertoire from the last four decades. Writing for these musicians means to engage with this history, these bodies – both in a metaphorical and physical sense – that register so much of our recent past. For me, it also means engaging with my personal history, since I have listened to these musicians in various constellations for more than twenty years.
- Eivind Buene
