Deep listening: New Music. On Lucerne Festival Forward 2023

On the concert "Film/Music"

(Episode in German) In the concert "Film/Music", the KKL Luzern will be transformed into a cinema: with two works that combine music, painting, and film into a total work of art. Producer Corinna Belz assembled segments from paintings by Gerhard Richter into an algorithmic film; at the same time, Richter's work served Marcus Schmickler as the basis for his composition. Another joint project by Belz and Richter inspired Rebecca Saunders to write a piece for the trumpeter Marco Blaauw. We talk to Corinna Belz about these extraordinary works, their creation process and their impact.

On the late-night concert "Ritual"

(Episode in German) At the late-night concert "Ritual" you'll get to know Julius Eastman. As a gay Black man, he was a unique figure among the American Minimalists. Using delicate bell sounds and a catchy vibraphone motif, Eastman's "Feminine" develops a repetitive sound stream that expands Minimalism by using improvisational elements: a trance-like ritual. In conversation with his festival colleague Malte Lohmann, Mark Sattler introduces us to this fascinating artist and tells us how he himself got acquainted with Eastman's music.

On the concert "Video/Opera"

We talk to Swedish singer Sofia Jernberg who will perform at the Opening Concert of the third edition of Lucerne Festival Forward. In Switzerland's biggest movie space – the filmtheatre of the Swiss Museum of Transport – she will explore both intimate and overwhelmingly synesthetic music making: After singing Julius Eastman's harrowing solo piece "Prelude to The Holy Presence of Joan d'Arc", Sofia teams up with the Ensemble of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Johanna Malangré for Fausto Romitelli's monumental video opera "An Index of Metals".