Curator’s editorial

New Order / Dis-Order: “Contemporary Music”
Against the background of the global change, triggered by the digital revolution, this festival would like to explore the question of whether and how this New Order of time and space is reflected in music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Are the old systems of order (categories like nation, gender etc., but also the subdivision into genres and styles) still relevant today? Or are they – on the contrary – possibly gaining in importance again?
How does the ubiquitous availability of old, new and newest compositions on the Internet influence the work of young composers? Has globalization brought the contemporary music scene closer together?
And who or what will determine the music of the 21st century – and who or what will belong to it and why – and who or what will not? Will the established genres, such as chamber music, ensemble music, etc., gradually have to give way to other formats?
What does ‘self-willingness’ or ‘resistance’ mean today?

Iris ter Schiphorst

The second New Music Forum in 2021 will present a diverse selection of recently composed music that reflects the interests and vision of the acclaimed composer Iris ter Schiphorst (1956), who has chosen an assortment of solo, chamber and ensemble pieces by contemporary composers which explore the central theme of music and digital media. 

As an artist, Iris ter Schiphorst has experienced many transformations, which can also be understood as various transfigurations or rather a reflection of the multifacetedness of postmodern society. She has worked as a classical pianist as well as a bass player, keyboard player and sound engineer in various rock and punk bands, making it easy for her to glide between musical genres. She also pursued theatre studies, cultural studies and philosophy in Berlin, while her composition teachers included Dieter Schnebel and Luigi Nono. Schiphorst also focused intensively on electronic music and sampling techniques, so it is no wonder that in connection with her passion for social justice, she has chosen to highlight the connection between music and various media as the central theme of her festival. Schiphorst is convinced that digital media have significantly changed the musical landscape in recent decades, with democratization, dehierarchization, deinstitutionalisation and individualization on the one hand, and technological development also influencing artistic “inspiration” on the other. Thus compositional techniques such as sampling and remixing have moved into the territory of so-called “artistic” music, where the youngest generation of composers use them with the same self-evidence as traditional notation-related techniques.

The New Music Forum 2021 will try to present just such a wild rise in similar technical, genre and content performances by contemporary composers of different generations. The six concerts will focus on different musical contexts. The first concert, Idiosyncrasy: 3 Nations, 3 Perceptions of Time and World? will present compositions by three contemporary composers working and trespassing different cultural and social contexts. The second concert, named Pluralism, Extension, Timbre, will present the different sound worlds as products of broadly conceived idea of stylistic pluralism, which will be even extended on the third concert/first late-night concert (Feedbacks – in Self-defense), prepared in cooperation with Zavod SPLOH, with two new compositions that take the middle path between performance art, conceptual art and free improvisation. The concert Diversity in the digital age concentrates on the works which wear the imprint of the procedures, derivated from the digital world. The next concert, The Expanding Pianoscape – World References puts in the centre the piano, but not as a typical classical instrument, more as a source for new modifications, extensions, preparations and electronic manipulations. Last concert/second night-late concert will once more give a word to the technical solutions, however, the ones that come closer to the contemporary do-it-yourself (DIY) methodology. 

In total festival will include 6 concerts, with 4 newly commissioned works by the middle and younger generations of Slovenian composers, a total of 25 pieces that will be performed in Slovenia for the first time, 4 pre-concert discussions with composers, performers and musicologists, composition workshops and musicological seminar with Iris ter Schiphorst and Rolf Riehm.

Ljubljana New Music Forum 2021

Music and Media

Featured Composer: Iris ter Schiphorst

New Music Forum Ensemble, Christoph Grund, Magdalena Cerezo Falces

November 12-29, 2021, Ljubljana 

No admission.

Concert 1,  November 12, 2021, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall

7.30pm
Pre-concert talk with Iris ter Schiphorst (moderation: Gregor Pompe)

8pm
Idiosyncrasy: 3 nations, 3 perceptions of time and world?

Iannis Xenakis: Anaktoria [1969]
Uroš Rojko: Neofonía [2016, rev. 2021]
Rolf Riehm: Hawking [1999]

Magdalena Cerezo Falces
New Music Forum Ensemble
Leonhard Garms (conductor)


Concert 2, November 20, 2021, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall

7pm
Pre-concert talk with Aleksandra Bajde (moderation: Gregor Pompe)

7.30pm
Pluralism, extension, timbre

Aleksandra Bajde: [O] (World premiere, a New Music Forum 2021 commission)
Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje: Essential Extensions [1999]
Franck Bedrossian: Edges [2010]

Oskar Laznik, Klemen Leben, Sae Lee, Gašper Livk, Simon Klavžar


Concert 3/Late-night 1, November 20, 2021, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall

9pm
Feedbacks – in self-defense

Helmut Oehring: Leuchter [1994]
Tomaž Grom: Abuse Me Gently/Tenderly  (World premiere,  a Zavod SPLOH commission) 
Nina Dragičević: Stop. (World premiere, a Zavod SPLOH commission)

Monika Babič, Katarina Leskovar, Sae Lee, Irena Z. Tomažin, Samo Kutin, Vid Drašler, Tomaž Grom

Concert 4, November 25, 2021, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall

7.30pm
Pre-concert talk with Vito Žuraj (moderation: Gregor Pompe)

8pm
Diversity in the digital age!?

Misato Mochizuki: Chimera [2000]
Mary Bellamy: Earth and Sky Reflect Each Other  [2001]
Vito Žuraj: Tension [2018]
Chaya Czernowin: Ayre – Towed Through Plumes, Thicket, Asphalt, Sawdust and Hazardous Air I shall not forget the sound of  [2015]
Mauro Lanza: The Skin of the Onion [2002]
Utku Asuroglu: Aggravation [2014]

New Music Forum Ensemble
Edo Mičić (conductor)

Streaming of the concert on December 2, 2021 at 8pm on www.ljnmf.org/live.

Concert 5, November 27, 2021, Old Power Plant Station

7.00pm
Pre-concert talk with Tilen Lebar (moderation: Gregor Pompe)

7.30pm
The Expanding Pianoscape – world references

Joanna Bailie: Artificial Environment No. 8 [2013]
Mark Andre: S3 [2015]
Tilen Lebar: Līmen II (World premiere,  a New Music Forum 2021 commission)
Iris ter Schiphorst: Eden Cinema [1995]

Christoph Grund, Mauricio Valdés San Emeterio
Due to the limited number of seats, we recommend ticket reservation per email: drustvo.uho@gmail.com.

Streaming of the concert on December 4, 2021 at 8pm on www.ljnmf.org/live.

Concert 6/Late-night 2, November 27, 2021, Old Power Plant Station

9.30pm
Lo-Tech

Stefan Prins: Piano Hero 1 [2011]
Brigitta Muntendorf: Public Privacy #2  Piano_Cover [2013]
Milan Stibilj: Rainbow [1969]
Iris ter Schiphorst: My Sweet Latin Lover II [2002]

Christoph Grund, Mauricio Valdés San Emeterio, Aleš Kacjan, Primož Sukič
Due to the limited number of seats, we recommend ticket reservation per email: drustvo.uho@gmail.com.

Streaming of the concert on December 4, 2021 at 9.30pm on www.ljnmf.org/live.

*** NEW ***
Concert 7, November 29, 2021, Mini teater

8pm
Makeovers

Ann Cleare: I Am Not a Clock-Maker Either [2009]
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Présence [1961]


Nejc Grm, Mauricio Valdés San Emeterio, Janez Podlesek, Igor Mitrović, Miha Haas, Tilen Artač
Due to the limited number of seats, we recommend ticket reservation per email: drustvo.uho@gmail.com.

Streaming of the concert on December 6, 2021 at 8pm on www.ljnmf.org/live.

RVT rule with identity document, mandatory surgical or FFP2 masks. Please show the appropriate proof of compliance with the RVT rule and a personal document at the entrance (proofs are not required for visitors aged under 12 attending the event with close family members or guardians).

As a composer, Iris ter Schiphorst is influenced by years of experience as a classical pianist, a bass player, percussionist, keyboard player and sound engineer in various rock and pop bands.

Her list of works covers all genres, including thirteen major orchestral works premiered by renowned orchestras in Germany and abroad (including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the German Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, the South West German Radio Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the BBC Symphony Orchestra of London, the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Glasgow, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and others), numerous full-length musical theatre works, and a variety of film music. Since the late 1980s, this list has also included a range of multimedia works.

Iris ter Schiphorst has collaborated with all of the leading new music ensembles (London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Scharoun Ensemble, Ensemble Recherche, Ictus Ensemble, Ensemble Mosaik, Neue Vokalsolisten, BIT-20 Ensemble, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Aventure, Ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble Collegium Novum Zürich, Phace Ensemble Vienna, Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Arditti Quartet, the Doelen Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, and others).

Iris ter Schiphorst’s resounding children’s opera Die Gänsemagd (2009) was staged with great success in Vienna and Berlin, as well as at the Zurich Opera. Her music for the children’s bestseller The Gruffalo (with Stefan Lienenkämper), which was arranged for the stage by the Hans Wurst Nachfahren Puppet Theatre and premiered by the Scharoun Ensemble at the Berlin Philharmonic, has been a successful part of the children’s theatre scene for many years.

Her orchestral work Gravitational Waves (with Uroš Rojko), which was premiered at the 2016 London Proms at the Royal Albert Hall by the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain conducted by Edward Gardner, received an enthusiastic critical response. The premiere of her semi-theatrical orchestral work Imaginäre nach Lacan for actor, orchestra and live electronics, featuring Salome Kammer in the lead role and conducted by Ilan Volkow at Vienna’s Konzerthaus in 2017 as part of the Wien Modern festival, was received with overwhelming enthusiasm by both audience and critics.

Iris ter Schiphorst has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the prestigious Heidelberger Künstlerinnenpreis in 2015. Since 2013, she has been a member of the Academy of Arts of Berlin, and since 2015 she has served as a professor of media composition at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts.