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!" is something you often hear when talking to so-called "modern" musicians 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 detective and dares an experiment: making contact with the past. The Italian Madrigals SWV 1-19 and a world premiere by American composer Laura Steenberge serve as the vehicle for questioning Heinrich Schutz directly about his 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?