Commission to José Luis Perdigón

With UNDERWATER MUSIC, the Berlin-based Kollektiv UNRUHE is developing a one-hour concert as part of the inaugural Ensembletreffen Berlin. The project explores water as an acoustic, political, and ecological material and situates itself at the intersection of climate change, resource conflicts, loss, and perception. Three new works by composers from the collective address the theme from different perspectives. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is supporting the commission to José Luis Perdigón.

José Luis Perdigón’s new work concludes the concert and, following two electronically-driven pieces, provides a deliberate, purely acoustic contrast. Classical instruments meet sound objects made of clay, metal, and glass. The starting point is the growing fragility of water: droughts, depleted reservoirs, and increasing desertification characterize the present; new technologies such as AI exacerbate these dynamics. At the heart of the piece is the question: What remains when water disappears—what traces endure?

Structural inspiration comes from geological relics such as dried-up riverbeds, sediments, evaporite deposits, branched valleys on Mars, or fossilized deltas—traces of an element that once flowed.

Perdigón combines this with his research on auditory imagination. The work unfolds a dual perception: external sounds emerge, transform, and fade away, while traces continue to resonate within the inner auditory space. Just as a dry riverbed preserves its course, memory shapes the very act of hearing, even in silence. Sound appears as layering, imprint, and trace. In the dramaturgy of UNDERWATER MUSIC, this creates a concentrated space for reflection on the presence, withdrawal, and disappearance of water.

Further information:
kollektivunruhe.com

Date

October 4, 2026
CANK, Berlin