Crippled Symmetries: Motifs in Contemporary Music

Alternative Stage Founding Donor

Major Sponsor of the Greek National Opera

The renowned Ensemble KNM Berlin is coming to the GNO Alternative Stage to present a special project titled Crippled Symmetries: Motifs in Contemporary Music.

The first part of the concert will feature a new work by distinguished Greek composer Zesses Seglias titled … a drop on my fingers, two lips as a fuzz, a sun on our heads (is the pattern), and commissioned by the Ensemble KNM Berlin. As the composer notes: “A large percussive sound lies at the core of the composition. Large not in volume, but in terms of harmonic structure and resonance. A slow exploration of these spectral elements —each time within increasingly narrower circles— feeds the very shape of the piece. At times, windows open, and time seems to pause. And through these cracks, sharp beams pass — like reflections of light that are nothing more than reminiscences of the original sound.”

In the second part, the GNO Alternative Stage will become an impressive multimedia setting through the presentation of the 3D-sound installation ... make beauty out of debris ... by the Argentinian-Mexican compositional and performative duo Ana Maria Rodriguez and Juan-Felipe Waller. This work serves as a musical and political commentary on recycling and social resilience. Inspired by the Argentinian financial crisis (2001-02) and the phenomenon of the “cantoneros” (cardboard and trash collectors), this work explores the concepts of circularity and reuse through the sounds of paper, cardboard, and packaging materials. These everyday materials, once part of the natural world, transform into sound bodies on stage, acquiring new life and a poetic dimension.

© Kai Bienert