Commission to Diana Syrse

15 years ago, the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie gave itself the nickname “the orchestra of the future”. And its SHIFTUNG FUTURES – FREISPIEL 24 festival will also be about the future. Just a few years ago, this was seen as a hopeful promise of improvement and something to be shaped together, but today it frightens many. The ninth edition of FREISPIEL aims to break this stagnation and, to mark the start of the orchestra's 50th anniversary, is turning its attention to the future with a four-day experimental festival in Frankfurt at the end of August 2024 – especially the aspects that particularly concern the young members of the orchestra. In line with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, these are the topics of (mental) health, sustainability and participation/democracy. Currently linked to the topic of democracy is above all the concern about its increasing endangerment. In this context, there are repeated warnings about the “division of society”. However, the demand for internal cohesion often obscures the fact that democracy thrives above all on different opinions, a lively discourse and diversity – in this sense also on inequality. The closing concert Spirit of Democracy closes the circle to visions of the future of earlier generations: It will take place in St. Paul's Church – the “place of possibility” par excellence, which has become a symbol of the will and courage to create a different, fairer future for all by exchanging equal and opposing opinions.

For the closing concert Spirit of Democracy, Diana Syrse has been commissioned to compose a piece, made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The composer and singer, who comes from Mexico and lives in Paris, usually performs her music herself in collaboration with orchestras and creates interdisciplinary collaborative works. Her compositions are characterized by the frequent incorporation of texts and are influenced by jazz, rock, fusion and traditional music from all over the world. In a concert matinee on September 1, 2024, the commissioned work will be premiered, which – with the active involvement of the audience – combines concise statements from the first German National Assembly in 1848 in a collage. The 15- to 20-minute work is being created for a mixed ensemble consisting of six to eight instruments, which will fill the special sound space of St. Paul's Church in an impressive way. André de Ridder has been engaged as conductor. In addition to works by the German-Jewish composer Sarah Nemtsov, other thematically appropriate works will be performed, including the String Sextet in C major op. 140 by Louis Spohr, which form an ideal context for the commissioned composition. Historical background, form and creative process, the genius loci of St. Paul's Church and the musicians' self-image – they all come together in Spirit of Democracy and democracy is thus made tangible for the audience on several levels.

Further information:
jdph.de

Date

September 1, 2024
St. Paul's Church, Frankfurt