Vollmaier: Ligeti

How to Explain Ligeti to a Dead Audience

How to explain Ligeti to a dead audience

Video scenography for a piano recital by Sašo Vollmaier https://www.sasovollmaier.com

11 Apr 2023, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, SI - PREMIERE
20 Apr 2023, Ravne na Koroškem, SI
26 May 2023, BMC Opus Jazz Club, Budapest, HU

The concurrent artistic careers of G. Ligeti and J. Beuys have instilled a desire in Vollmaier for cooperation and new creation inspired by their artistic outputs. On the one hand, this was Ligeti's "extreme electronic" approach to the acoustic instrument and, on the other hand, Beuys' concept of tearing down the wall between life and art. After major piano solo projects, Vollmaier: Kind of Laibach and Vollmaier: Nietzsche, the pianist embarked on a new venture: the piano compositions by composer G. Ligeti, to be performed in Cankarjev dom’s Gallus Hall on the centenary of the composer’s birth. Three Ligeti’s piano compositions have been selected. Vollmaier will perform two variations on each composition, using both contemporary and classical musical techniques to create a sonically and visually enhanced acoustic/electronic performance art. An event for the listeners and spectators alike whose core is made up of both the piano tone and the interpreter.

The performance has been visually supported by Things I Miss and Komposter, whose expression serves to extend Vollmaier's sound. Producer and composer Luka Jamnik, who has collaborated with Vollmaier on his previous projects, will modify the sound of the piano tone from the control room. Together, they have created a new, personal performance event with darkness, silence, noise, astonishment and seclusion as its leitmotifs. The concert will be accompanied by an album released at Nika Records in co-production with Cankarjev dom.