„Das Heilige Nichts“ oder Inseln der Unendlichkeit (“The Holy Nothing” or Islands of Infinity)
Concert/installation/performance
Photo: Preßl Archive
Thirty years after his death, Hermann Markus Preßl’s spirit still hovers over the Graz music scene. Almost like a mythological figure, he has influenced some of the most important composers of the following generation.
Shrouded in mystical concepts such as the “holy nothing,” the spirituality of Preßl’s work offers a multilayered poetic canvas. Preßl is economical, very consistent, almost radical. At the same time, his austerity harbors a morbid, provocative humor that offsets the seriousness of his radicalism. Death runs like a common thread through his work. It is usually addressed very directly, but never solemnly, almost with the smiling lightness of a prankster.
To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the composer’s death, students from the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz are not taking a trip down memory lane at ORF musikprotokoll. Rather, they take a contemporary look at a piece of the city’s musical history—with the aim of emphasizing its continuity.
A project by Institute 1 Composition, Theory of Music, History of Music and Conducting at KUG –University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, PPCM Instrumental and Vocal, Klangforum Wien, and ORF musikprotokoll
6.10., 18:00
Kulturzentrum bei den Minoriten
Mariahilferplatz 3
8020 Graz ♿
Day pass 6.10., 15/10 euros
With music by Hermann Markus Preßl, Klaus Lang, Yulan Yu, Dimitri Papageorgiou, Antonis Rouvelas, Joachim Jung, and Peter Lackner
Installation: Wendelin Pressl
Participants: Classes from PPCM – Performance Practice in Contemporary Music Instrumental and Vocal, as well as the KUG – University of Music and Performing Arts Graz Vocal Ensemble
Orchestration: Klangforum Wien, Dimitrios Polisoidis, Klaus Lang, Holger Falk, Gan-ya Ben-gur Akselrod, Gerd Kenda, and Franz Jochum
A project by Institute 1 Composition, Theory of Music, History of Music and Conducting at KUG –University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, PPCM Instrumental and Vocal, Klangforum Wien, and ORF musikprotokoll