Musica 2019 Festival: Polymedia Composers Redefine Musical Creation
From September 20 to October 5, 2019, Strasbourg hosted the Festival Musica, under the direction of Stéphane Roth. This event highlighted composers seldom featured in France, such as Joanna Bailie, Natacha Diels, and Alexander Schubert, whose creations employed a polymedia technique that integrated sound, video, text, instruments, and live performance. The festival underscored the necessity for institutions to evolve in response to this compositional shift. On the concluding day, the American ensemble Pamplemousse showcased six original pieces, including a microtonal work by Weston Olencki and a computer-generated narrative by Natacha Diels. Additionally, François Sarhan curated 'Composer l'image,' which presented ten video works, featuring contributions from Bailie and Kreidler, examining the relationship between sound and visuals.
Key facts
- Festival Musica 2019 took place in Strasbourg from September 20 to October 5, 2019.
- Stéphane Roth directed the festival for the first time.
- The festival featured composers rarely performed in France, including Joanna Bailie, Natacha Diels, Alexander Schubert, David Broom, Nico Sauer, Jessie Marino, Simon Løffler, Trond Reinholdtsen, Stefan Prins, Simon Steen-Andersen, and Johannes Kreidler.
- Their works are polymedia, integrating sound, video, text, instruments, performance, and discourse.
- The American group Pamplemousse performed on the final day, with works by Weston Olencki, Natacha Diels, and Jessie Marino.
- François Sarhan curated 'Composer l'image,' a selection of ten video works by composers born mostly in the 1970s.
- Included videos: Joanna Bailie's 'The Grand Tour' (2015, 15 min), Nico Sauer's 'Telefon Centrum Ep1' (2018, 3 min 05), Jessie Marino's 'Breathe deeply' (2017, 2 min 23), Johannes Kreidler's 'Film1' (2017, 18 min).
- The videos explore the relationship between sound and image without one medium dominating.
Entities
Artists
- Stéphane Roth
- Joanna Bailie
- Natacha Diels
- Alexander Schubert
- David Broom
- Nico Sauer
- Jessie Marino
- Simon Løffler
- Trond Reinholdtsen
- Stefan Prins
- Simon Steen-Andersen
- Johannes Kreidler
- Weston Olencki
- François Sarhan
- Thierry de Mey
- Bruce Springsteen
Institutions
- Festival Musica
- Pamplemousse
Locations
- Strasbourg
- France
- Berlin
- Germany
Sources
- artpress —