Estimated duration

1 h 30 min.

Organizer

Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia

Join NYKY Ensemble exploring matter and freedom in music with works by Czernowin, Scelsi, Lindquist, Hartikainen and Eastman

This time, NYKY Ensemble presents a concert based on the exploration of spaces between matter – materials, instruments; the physicality – bodies, those of performers, composers, living beings; and freedom – the path and the challenges of finding freedom with and from a musical instrument, within a creative space as well as society. 

In the programme, Czernowin’s Ayre observes matter as in a microscope, observing the movements of extremely small things. Scelsi, in his 5th String Quartet, takes a single note and bends and distorts it, uncovering the deepest nature of sound through processes of malleability. Ellen Lindquist’s Earth is a meditation on the element of Earth and its energy. The Earth is the place in which matters, bodies, systems, living structures coexist, and the planet’s energy and its elements are essential to our physical and spiritual growth. Joy Boy finds a seemingly logical and natural blend between minimalism and experimental musica, something possible through the absolute originality of Julius Eastman’s approach to composition and music making, which often call for creative contribution from the performers. 

The relationship between the musicians’ bodies and their instruments, the frictions between intention and execution, and the awe of discovery are at the center of Jarkko Hartikainen’s new piece. The piece is developed with NYKY Ensemble’s performers through workshops and directed by the composer himself.

Programme

Chaya Czernowin – Ayre: Towed through plumes, thicket, asphalt, sawdust and hazardous air I shall not forget the sound of

Julius Eastman – Joy Boy

Jarkko Hartikainen – new work

Ellen Lindquist – Earth

Giacinto Scelsi – String Quartet No. 5

Changes are possible.

NYKY Ensemble 

NYKY Ensemble is a contemporary music group of Uniarts Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, which serves as a forum for contemporary music projects and provides perspectives on the trends and techniques of our time, such as expanded playing techniques, live electronics, microtonality, minimalism or cross-disciplinary artistic cooperation. The composition of the ensemble depends on the pieces to be presented at any given time, and the visiting supervisor in each concert period is a musician or ensemble specialising in contemporary music.

Further information: Jaakko Kilpeläinen, jaakko.kilpelainen@uniarts.fi