Acht Brücken 2024

From 4 to 12 May, the festival ACHT BRÜCKEN | Musik für Köln 2024 will explore “subtle differences” in around 30 concerts: based on a portrait for Enno Poppe, the focus will be on the use of microtones. A total of 10 world premieres will be realized by composers from Taiwan, Canada, Iceland, Italy, Germany and Turkey, among others. With the theme “subtle differences”, ACHT BRÜCKEN alludes to the diversity of contemporary musical practice, which is not limited to the tempered scale, but is still considered an “exception” in our Central European perception.

A total of nine works by Enno Poppe will be performed by Ensemble Mosaik, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Musikfabrik, ensemblekollektiv Berlin and Gürzenich Orchester Köln, among others. Clara Iannotta will be presented with four new solo and duo works. The program also includes music from non-European cultural regions: Korean Sinawi music, Carnatic music with the virtuoso trio SWARALAYAAMAAYA, which will perform both alone and together with Ensemble Musikfabrik, a program with works by James Tenney and Francesca Verunelli interpreted by the Remix Ensemble from Porto and a program by the internationally renowned Cologne-Istanbul Bağlama virtuoso, singer and composer Kemal Dinç.

One focus of the festival is on concerts presenting younger composers whose work is characterized by the use of microtones: Ensemble Recherche will perform a programme with a world premiere by Po-Chien Liu (*1990), winner of the 11th International ACHT BRÜCKEN Composition Competition 2023, a new septet by Enno Poppe and a composition by Farzia Fallah, born in Tehran in 1980. Clarinettist Nina Janßen-Deinzer and soprano Peyee Chen will perform a program of music from Turkey based on their work there last year. World premieres by Tolga Yayalar and Füsun Köksal will be performed alongside works by Onur Türkmen and Arda Bayram, providing an insight into the diverse contemporary composer scene in Istanbul and Ankara. The Canadian Quatuor Bozzini, highly regarded for its long-standing composer's kitchen, will make its debut at ACHT BRÜCKEN with works by James Tenney, Sarah Davachi (*1987) and Bekah Simms (* 1990, co-commission with the quartet). Finally, the Cologne trio Abstrakt presents a world premiere by Berlin-based Icelander Haukur Þór Harðarson (* 1989) and a composition by Marco Momi (* 1978).

Acht Brücken 2024 is supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
achtbruecken.de

Dates

May 4 – 12, 2024
Various locations, Cologne