Hear Us When We Call. A Seance for Heinrich Schutz

EXPERIMENT I | With works by the master and a world premiere by Laura Steenberge (*1981)

"Early music" - a buzzword, and for many still a loaded one. "You have to know so much to play this music!" - that's a common reaction when so-called "modern" musicians are asked about the repertoire from 1600 to 1750. True "knowledge" is arguably impossible given the sheer volume of contradictory sources, yet the myth persists.

THE PRESENT takes on the role of investigator and runs an experiment - reaching out to the past. The "Italian Madrigals" SWV 1-19 and a world premiere by US composer Laura Steenberge serve as the vehicle for questioning Heinrich Schutz directly about his own work.

With a wink, the artist in residence opens the music festival by asking: will contact with Heinrich Schutz be made? Will the composer pick up the ghost phone?