Moving Sounds Festival 2018 "The Mahler Question: Emerging Austrians" at Austrian Cultural Forum NY

Mahler, along with his young compatriot Arnold Schoenberg, was certainly one of the dominant compositional voices in fin-de-siecle Vienna, but who are the emerging Austrian composers of today?

PROGRAM:

Elisabeth Harnik Kugelstein II (2006) – (14 min)
Duet for voice and bass clarinet
*U.S. premiere

Bernd Klug and Meaghan Burke New Work (2018) – (20 min)
Duet for cello and double bass
*World Premiere

Manuela Meier What you see, is it (2016) – (10 min)
Duet for two trombones
*New York Premiere



The concert features Austrian composers Manuela Meier, Elisabeth Harnik and Bernd Klug, who will be performing with his American creative partner Meaghan Burke.

Elisabeth Harnik’s Kugelstein II was performed at the Austrian Cultural Forum London’s Mahler Festival in 2010. Harnik wrote “in Kugelstein II the questions ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Where am I?’ are essential in this work, as the protagonist is whisked away from everyday life through a car accident to an unreal space and time zone.”

Manuela Meier’s hyper-detailed aesthetic comes largely from her extensive experience as an accordionist. Her duet for two trombones, What you see, is it, creates a virtual orchestra with its interplay of percussive sounds, attacks, overtones, singing, and virtuosic brass techniques.

Bassist/composer Bernd Klug and cellist/composer Meaghan Burke, equal partners in their creative performing/composing duet, co-compose a work that explores the marriage of Alma and Gustav Mahler, both of their compositional aspirations, and the various competing interests from which they both suffered.

Featured soloists include Sharon Harms, soprano, and Carol McGonnell, clarinet.