The Autoklavierspieler—a robotic piano player designed by Winfried Ritsch—is a controllable electromechanical device mounted on a piano. It gives composers the freedom to realize the previously unplayable with eighty-eight lightning-fast mechanical fingers. The Graz-based Ensemble Zeitfluss plays alongside this music machine for the first time. Four pieces have been commissioned, and a fifth piece is contributed by Ritsch, who also presents an open workshop on music machines and machine music alongside the concert.

For Orestis Toufektsis, composing always involves making choices. The result of this artistic freedom—a thoroughly political act for him—can be sensually perceived in his piece. Ukrainian composer Alisa Kobzar uses transcription and analysis algorithms as well as “their limits and distortions.” In Elisabeth Harnik’s composition, ensemble musicians and machinist move between the poles of interpretation and spontaneity. This is accompanied by a new composition by Dimitri Papageorgiou.

Conductor: Edo Micic
Technical management: Winfried Ritsch