Parole

18:30 in P1–introduction with Elena Rykova and ensemble members

19:30 in T3–concert

21:30 in P1–After Show with snacks and drinks

Oscar Bianchi: Ante Litteram

for six voices a cappella (2012/13)

Elena Rykova: on the shore of shattered time

for three voices (2021)

Thomas Kessler: Voice Control

for three voices and live electronics (1993/1997)

Anna Sowa: Entrecôte Music theatre piece

for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, bass and electronics (2025) ^WP

Fernando Manassero: The slow cancellation of the future

for six voices and electronics (2024)

Neue Vocalsolisten

Johanna Vargas, soprano

Susanne Leitz-Lorey, soprano

Helena Sorokina, mezzo-soprano

Martin Nagy, tenor

Guillermo Anzorena, baritone

Andreas Fischer, bass

Over the past few months, the Neuen Vocalsolisten have presented masterful authors and many canon-like works in their KAMMER-SPIELE series, celebrating the 25-year-old genre of vocal chamber music theater.

In the finale of the series, they now look to the future together with young composers, all of whom are based in Switzerland. The power of the voice and the word is illuminated with all its utopian and dystopian content.

Oscar Bianchi’s fast-paced narrative about the reasons »that prevent humanity from knowing itself and finding the path to consciousness« was inspired by David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest. Elena Rykova explores the voice as an instrument of power in politically precarious situations. Thomas Kessler’s »Voice Control« demonstrates how traditional means of articulation can be expanded through analog electronic devices. With considerable sarcasm, Anna Sowa exposes the stereotypical behavior of acquaintances and friends during a social event in her miniature theater piece »Entrecôte.« And »what is man?« asks Fernando Manassero at the end, looking ahead to the approaching era of AI-driven idleness, in which »almighty machines do our work.«