Viktoria Mullova_©Max Pucciariello
04 May 2023
Post originally written in: Deutsch Information An automatic machine translation. Super fast and almost perfect.

Nothing less than a journey into the unheard, into the unheard is offered by the new concert series „listening closely“ which will take place from May 17 to 21, 2023. It will be programmed by composer Thomas Larcher. For twenty years he has been „Musik im Riesen“ the content of the series. Now he and his small team invite those interested to an even more intimate and conscious examination of their own hearing, of sounds, of interpretations, of music.

Listening closely

"Listening is clearly the focus. If 100 people sit in a concert, 100 people hear something else," Larcher emphasizes. Music, he says, is initially just sound waves; it is only through our ears that they trigger something - perceptions, sensations, images. „listening closely“ he therefore sees not as a festival, but as a celebration of music. "Many of the national and international festivals are interchangeable in terms of content, diluted by an oversized, commercially oriented program. We are looking for a reduction to the essentials: the music itself," says Larcher.

In order to reach as many people as possible, his team - Friederike Gösweiner (public relations) and Maria Salcher (organization) - and he refrained from performing in classical concert halls and looked for new venues. Besides the Business Building and the Neuwirt community and cultural center in Wattens, the events will take place in Studio 3 of the ORF Tirol. On May 20, for example, ballads by Christoph Ransmayr and music by Wolfgang Muthspiel can be heard on ORF, and illustrations by Anselm Kiefer can also be seen.

Financially, too, there should be as few barriers as possible. Ticket prices are deliberately set at a moderate level, and the festival pass is particularly favorable - Hunger for Art and Culture Pass holders receive free admission.

Programmatic

For the first edition of the series, Larcher combined already well-known and established artists with emerging talents. Thus, in addition to violinist Viktoria Mullova and Alasdair Beatson on fortepiano, the Tyrolean cellist Valerie Fritz and the South Tyrolean pianist Josef Haller can be heard in the context of „listening closely“.

In terms of content, too, well-known names join perhaps even lesser-known ones, and old music can be found alongside new: Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven alongside Benjamin Britten, György Ligeti, Arturo Fuentes and Erwan Borek. Whereby Larcher deliberately defines the terms "old" and "new" differently: "Any music I hear for the first time is new. In their time, Bach or Beethoven were as modern as Fuentes or the young Tyrolean Borek are today. We should break away from such terms," says the composer.

Pleasant ambience

The distance between listener and performer, which is otherwise often intentional, is eliminated. Musicians enter into contact with the audience. Through the closeness, the exchange between all participants, the listening experience is once again intensified. "We want to bring people together who really want to listen to music. We are about community building and meeting like-minded people," adds Larcher. In order to be able to act flexibly and openly, „listening closely“ 's attention is completely focused on the content: "The organization remains lean, which means we are very agile and can concentrate on the essentials."

Inspiration and exchange

In addition to low-threshold spaces as well as a deliberate combination of well-known and lesser-known compositions, interpreters and performers, „listening closely“ aims to bring young musicians into contact with professionals on a third level. In cooperation with the music school in Wattens, there will be a „Masterclass Gitarre“, led by the multiple award-winning jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel. "Anyone who wants to be there is welcome to listen. The Masterclass is open to the public," concludes Thomas Larcher. Again, the invitation is to engage intensively with music.

listening closely
17.-21 May 2023
Tel.: +43 660 95 09 334
E-Mail: info@listeningclosely.eu
www.listeningclosely.eu

Tickets via ntry.at, at Raika Wattens, Wagner'sche Buchhandlung or by phone +43 660 95 09 334 (Mon.-Fri. 2-5pm, Sat. all day)

Header image: © Max Pucciariello

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