The Festival Murten Classics is celebrating 30 years of existence this year. Its anniversary event takes place between 12 August and 2 September 2018. This year’s festival programme is under the motto “On the road – en chemin” and intends to facilitate musical time travel through five centuries. It intentionally places terms with a negative connotation such as flight, migration and emigration side to side with inspiring travels and journeys of composers and artists.
For quite some time, the Festival Murten Classics has been curating contemporary music repertoire in its concert series “Open for new things”. The artistic director of the festival, Kaspar Zehnder, states in an interview with the ‘Freiburger Nachrichten’ that “these concerts appeal to the curiosity of the audience, and the audience is usually not disappointed”.
In collaboration with SUISA, the Festival programme offers an entire day of encounters this year: In the course of the concert series “Open for new things”, three concerts with works of 13 different contemporary composers will be performed in the cultural centre in the Beaulieu Park in Murten between the morning and the late afternoon on Saturday, 25 August 2018.
The audience can, as part of a supporting programme including the opportunity to have lunch, find out more from experts and artists about today’s life as a music creator and current music creation, or discuss these items. Apart from an introduction at the kickoff in the morning, chaired discussion groups with the attending composers are held during the day, where the audience may also ask questions on the creation and the journey of the works.
True to this year’s festival motto “On the road – en chemin”, the works performed on this day will be by authors who are “on the road” yet related to Switzerland. These composers have emigrated from Switzerland, migrated to Switzerland, but always been in another spot or fled from place to place.
Visitors on that day of the musical encounters can find out what kind of soundscapes develop based on these life paths and life experiences. Day tickets for this event on 25 August 2018 in the concert series “Open for new things” can be acquired inclusive or exclusive of lunch on the website of the festival.
Programme: “Open for new things”, a day of encounters at the Murten Classics
25 August 2018
Event venue
The Kleintheater KiB (Kultur im Beaulieu)
Motto: On the road – en chemin.
Various interpretations of a festival theme
Emigrated from Switzerland
Migrated to Switzerland
Always on the road
On the run
10 o’clock – INTRODUCTION
Dr. Irène Minder-Jeanneret
Presentation: Dr. Roman Brotbeck
Concert 1 (approx. 11.00 – 12.00)
WAVES FROM ANOTHER WORLD
Giorgio Tedde (*1958): Atlas (2005) for flute and string trio
Katrin Frauchiger (*1967): Mare nostrum (2015) for flute and string trio
Aram Hovhannisyan (*1984): Litanies I-IV (2008/09) for piano
Jean-Luc Darbellay (*1946): Waves (2011) for flute and alto flute
Fritz Voegelin (*1943): Dual (2009/10) for alto flute and string trio
Ana Ioana Oltean, flute
Gilles Grimaître, piano
Ensemble for four: Kaspar Zehnder, flute / alto flute; Charlotte Zehnder, violin; Dorothee Schmid, viola; Urs Fischer, violoncello
Concert 2 (approx. 13.30 – 14.30)
IMMIGRATION – EMIGRATION
Maria Niederberger (*1949): Mountain visions (2009/10) for solo violin
Maria Niederberger (*1949): Hommage à Frédéric Chopin (2008/09) for solo piano
Thomas Fortmann (*1951): Burlesque “Elena e Greta” for two flutes and piano
Jan Beran (*1959): “Strange words the wind tossed” for violin and piano
Jan Beran (*1959): “Leis wie eine Märchenweise” for solo piano
Wael Sami Elkholy (*1976): “Skies’ Calls“ (2011) for voice and tape
René Kubelik, violin
Patrizio Mazzola, piano
Ana Ioana Oltean, flute
Kaspar Zehnder, flute
Wael Sami Elkholy, voice
Concert 3 (approx. 16.00 – 17.00)
ROOTS AND GREAT PLACES
Daniel Schnyder (*1961): 4th String quartet “Great places” – Shanghai 1928, Havana 1952, Paris 1901, Casablanca 1933, New York City 1964
Cécile Marti (*1973): Trapez (2012)
Iris Szeghy (*1956): Aria (2007/16)
Marco Antonio Perez-Ramirez (*1964): Primitive Dream (2009)
Belenus Quartet: Seraina Pfenninger, violin; Anne Battegay, violin; Esther Fritzsche, viola; Jonas Vischi, violoncello
