Their subjects are darkness and the depths of the human soul – in their concert performance the musicians of the Berlin-based ensemble Lux:NM stage a collage consisting of lighting effects, video clips, text fragments and above all of music by the composer Gordon Kampe (b. 1976). This theatrical piece is a cooperation between Lux:NM and radio play author Sarah Trilsch, artist Florian Japp, sound designer Jan Brauer and Gordon Kampe, winner of Villa Massimo’s Rome Prize and the 2016 Composer’s Prize of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
»Writing music,« says Gordon Kampe, »is mostly like a game to me, playing with things that don’t belong together if viewed at a distance.« The 43-year-old Kampe has been professor for composition and theory of music at the Hamburg’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater for three years now. His affinity for the theatre can be seen in many playing instructions in his scores: »Hard as nails and hooliganlike«, »Charge into the strawberries« and »Hold both hands very close to your mouth, then scream like crazy, but never let the scream out«.
In close cooperation with the interpreters, he has already written stage works along the lines of chamber operas for smaller ensembles, Lux:NM among them. In »Dark Lux«, the ensemble plays and recites, darkly framed by Florian Japp’s video sequences and by electronica from sound designer Jan Brauer. Brauer is well-known from the techno project »Brandt Brauer Frick«, where he sits at the keyboard himself.
Performers
Ensemble Lux:NM
Ruth Velten saxophone, performance
Silke Lange accordion, performance
Florian Juncker trombone, performance
Vitaliy Kyianytsia piano, performance
Zoé Cartier violoncello, performance
Jan Brauer sound design
Martin Offik sound
Sophia Simitzis stage direction
Florian Japp object, stage, video
Programme
Gordon Kampe
DARK LUX / Hörstück - eine Konzertperformance
Series
Unterdeck / Below Deck