Can music transport us into the world of another animal species? Jonathan Harvey listens to 40 bird songs in slow motion and extracts exuberant ornamentations from them to make us experience ‘what it would be like to be a human inside a bird’s head’. Carola Bauckholt turns her back on this melodic fascination and limits her material to the piercing cries of geese, swans, pelicans and cormorants. Robin Meier Wiratunga creates a sonic dialogue between pigeons in flight and musicians on the ground.
PRE-CONCERT
6.15 pm: pre-concert talk
7.30 pm: concert

PROGRAMME

Jonathan Harvey
Bird Concerto with Pianosong (2001)
for piano, chamber orchestra and electronics

Carola Bauckholt
Zugvögel (2011–2012)
for oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon
A piece performed outdoors.

Robin Meier Wiratunga
Apophenia (2021, 2023/2026 version)
for carrier pigeons fitted with whistling vests and ensemble
Screening of a video version of the piece on a large screen.
Footage filmed in Dharavi, Mumbai in 2023, accompanied by a new instrumental recording.
The video will subsequently be screened on the fifth floor of the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève.