Commission for Anda Kryeziu

Ensemble Modern has commissioned Kosovar composer Anda Kryeziu to write INPUT for solo voice, live electronics, and ensemble. She is collaborating closely with director and playwright Katharina Schmitt on the project. The starting point and inspiration for the work is the archive of American civil rights activist Marion Stokes (1929–2012). Beginning in 1977, Stokes used eight video recorders to record programming from several U.S. television channels around the clock. Critical of the way news was reported, she sought to preserve these recordings for future generations. Her efforts resulted in an archive of 71,000 videotapes containing more than 400,000 hours of footage.

Kryeziu and Schmitt approach the history of media representation from both analytical and poetic perspectives. At the heart of their work is the question of whose voices are heard and who is remembered. They also explore themes such as the reliability of media transmission, the construction of the public sphere, and the role of archives as sites of both collective and individual memory.

Kryeziu’s composition consists of modules that differ in subject matter, instrumentation, and sound sources. Her work makes particular use of fragmentation, condensation, and polyphony. The composition draws on the techniques of cutting, editing, looping, and rewinding, referencing the production of media for film, television, and radio. Newly composed music, acoustic quotations, and material from television archives come together in the work. Kryeziu performs the live electronics herself.

Further information:
ensemble-modern.com

Dates

July 24, 2027
Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Darmstadt (World Premiere)

Further dates to be announced.