Commission to Alexander Schubert

ETERNAL DAWN is a full-length musical composition by Alexander Schubert for Kampnagel Hamburg, situated between music theatre, visual live installation and physical performance. The plot is set in a near future in which transhumanism has become the norm. Technically enhanced bodies and artificial creatures populate the surface of this world, held together by music as an existential dimension. In terms of content, we encounter seven individual creatures whose organisms are composed of the remains of human bodies and technically optimised limbs – hybrid beings between human and machine. Equipped with all kinds of metal extensions, artificial limbs, scanning software as sensory organs and servomotors as moving muscles, they symbolise the continuous process of developing and overcoming human nature.

Specially developed body extensions for the actors function as instruments for the sonic and performative interaction and considerably potentiate the movement and vocal apparatus of the human body. The means used range from crude, metal extremities to fine motorised high-tech robots and digital voice transformers for vocal articulations. The musicians involved (instrumental/vocal) neither play conventional instruments nor use traditional music-making techniques; instead, their interaction with the environment shapes the sonic process. The sound generators used are all new constructions and their visionary, technologised appearance is only remotely reminiscent of traditional musical instruments; rather, they represent their fictitious further development in a future culture.

The commission to Alexander Schubert is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
kampnagel.de

Dates

September 19, 20 & 21, 2025
Musica Festival Strasbourg

January 15, 16 & 17, 2026
Kampnagel, Hamburg