Aggregates

The concert series “Aggregates” introduces audiences to computer-operated organs as a “new instrument” and presents their yet untapped musical resources. The aggregation of instrumental and electronic music in automated pipe organs offers composers exciting new artistic possibilities. With newly developed control technology and interfaces, the computer can control all the parameters of the organ while sound is emitted from the pipes. Taking the spatial dynamics into account, such organs can produce diverse and entirely innovative acoustic phenomena. International composers and ensembles with different musical approaches are currently composing works for these pipe organs or adapting existing works for specific instruments and their respective room acoustics. The artistic spectrum ranges from contemporary electronic music to new music, avant-garde pop and “noise music” and comprises a diverse array of artistic strategies, such as real-time controlling and electronic synchronisation. The organisers are planning eight concerts in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway and Iceland, each customised for performance on special organs of various designs. The organs, e.g. at the Organ Park in Amsterdam, the Stavanger Concert Hall and the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter in Cologne, offer extraordinary acoustic possibilities with their vastly diverse structural characteristics, technical capabilities and room acoustics. Lectures and panel discussions prior to the concerts will introduce audience members to the technical background and artistic approaches. Experts will discuss key questions, for example, what it means to no longer be restrained by ten fingers and the maximum speed at which humans can perform. Or how the composition of music and its reception are affected by the hybridisation of instruments through digital control. The entire concert series will be extensively documented and published in the form of audio recordings and a catalogue.

Artistic director: gamut inc (Marion Wörle, Maciej Śledziecki)
Composers: Seth Horvitz aka Rrose, Robert van Heumen, Nils Henrik Asheim, Stefan Fraunberger, George Rahi, Arturas Bumšteinas, Phillip Sollmann, Konrad Sprenger, gamut inc (Marion Wörle, Maciej Śledziecki) and others

Additional Dates and Venues

18 Apr 2020 – Concert with works by gamut inc, Logos Foundation, Gent (BEL) => POSTPONED TO 2021;
24 Oct 2020 – Concert with works by gamut inc, Nils Hendrik Asheim u.a., Stavanger Konserthus, Stavanger (NOR) => POSTPONED TO 2021;
31 Jan 2021 – Concert with works by gamut inc, Seth Horvitz & Stefan Fraunberger, Hallgrimskirkja, Reykjavik (ISL) => POSTPONED;
31 Mar 2021 – Concert with works by gamut inc, Robert van Heumen u.a., Orgelpark, Amsterdam (NLD)