Sun 6.10.2024 - 18:00
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 nostalgic journey into the past 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.
With music by Hermann Markus Preßl, Klaus Lang, Yulan Yu, Dimitri Papageorgiou, Antonis Rouvelas, Joachim Jung, and Peter Lackner. Installation: Wendelin Pressl.
Das Heilige Nichts oder Inseln der Unendlichkeit
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, 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.