contain

The Hong Kong New Music Ensemble and the Hamburg chamber orchestra Ensemble Resonanz have teamed up for a performance and concert installation entitled “contain”. The music project is based on the globalised world as a society of blurred identities and cultural disorientation. Likewise, experiences of migration and foreignness play an important role in the backgrounds of the participating musicians. In extensive video interviews, the musicians, composers, technicians, dramaturges and scholars discuss their views on this thematic complex. The interviews form the centrepiece of the concert installation and instil the performances with a narrative character.

The musical part of the performance consists of two new compositions. The first is a new work by the Australian composer and musician Simon James Phillips. He is developing the piece in close cooperation with both ensembles, applying his method of “collaborative composing”. With this artistic approach, he creates a work of New Music which refers to the musicians and their personal backgrounds in very specific ways and allows their biographical references to be integrated into the composition. The Chinese composer and sound artist Samson Young is developing the second musical piece for both ensembles.

The concert installation will be performed in Hong Kong, Berlin and Hamburg.

Artistic director: Folkert Uhde
Dramaturgy: Elisa Erkelenz
Artists: Simon James Phillips, Samson Young, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Ensemble Resonanz, Alice Lagaay, William Lane

Venues and Dates:

Hong Kong: September 2020; Berlin: March 2021; Hamburg: April 2021