PRISMA

Choreography by Elisabeth Schilling

PRISMA is a choreographic interpretation of the Etudes for Piano by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. Originally created as a 20min version for Monodrama Festival Luxembourg 2019, then titled Sketches with Ligeti, and subsequent touring to Kunstfest Weimar, Wonder Woman Festival Tuscany and Tanz*Hotel Vienna, Elisabeth will extend the 20 mins solo to a full evening work throughout 2022 and 2023 in residencies at Spam! Italy, City Moves Dance Agency Aberdeen, An Lanntair Stornoway and Tanzhaus Zürich, R.E.D. Norway. The creation will focus on the two first books of Etudes for piano by György Ligeti.

The work will premiere and tour in 2023, in celebration of the composer’s 100th anniversary.

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‘She dives into this world of powerful sound in an incredibly sensitive way, powerful even in silence. (…) Fragile and stringent at the same time, her dance, between intuition and construction, is powerful, energetic and tender. Yet always somehow fragile. So clever and so touching.’

– Rando Hannemann, tanz.at –

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Concept

Look up, and hear the ticking… The Hungarian composer György Ligeti was fascinated by the coexistence of clocks and clouds in our world, of exact measures as well as approximations, and he translated this coexistence into music. As both clouds and clocks continue to inspire human imagination, for Ligeti they provided a point of convergence from which to experiment in a constant conversation between the arts and the sciences.

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With PRISMA, Elisabeth Schilling takes Ligeti’s scientific-artistic immersion as a method and extends it to the domain of engaged dance. For this purpose, she has picked the Études, a series of short and extremely difficult pieces for solo piano, which, according to Ligeti, behave, in a compositional and pianistic sense, like “growing organisms”. Following this line of thought and alongside the pianist Cathy Krier, Schilling has focussed on the first two books of the Études, treating dance and music as contiguous forms growing alongside and into each other to produce a dance-concert/concert-dance in which neither form dominates the other. Working with intricate scores that sustain a tension between the clockwork of a fully determined piece and the clouds of possibility that engulf a sense of improvisatory freedom, the singular characteristics of each of the Études (colours, textures, movements, atmospheres) are woven into a complex and forever open whole.

The “Études” by Hungarian composer György Ligeti are short, technically and musically incredibly difficult pieces for solo piano. György Ligeti said of his Études that they behaved, in a compositional and pianistic sense, like “growing organisms”. Following this line of thought, the choreographer Elisabeth Schilling and the pianist Cathy Krier will seek to create an unprecedented take on the Études, treating dance and music as contiguous forms growing alongside and into each other, thus producing a dance-concert and concert-dance in which neither form shall dominate the other. While the musical pieces change, the choreographic flow is uninterrupted, so that the dance forms a pattern of contrast and adaptation to the music.

Photo Credit: Martina Stampf / Tanz*Hotel Wien (photos nr 1-3)

Photo Credit: Candy Welz (photos nr 4-8)

Luxembourgish Cathy Krier is an internationally renowned solo pianist who regularly performs with Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Elisabeth Schilling, who has appeared as a dancer in repertoire pieces with companies such as Sasha Waltz, Trisha Brown and the Scottish Dance Theatre, has meanwhile also grown a reputation as an award-winning, young choreographer.

In order, then, to allow musico-kinetic organisms to grow, in dance, in music, and in their co-evolution, Elisabeth Schilling will respond to both Ligeti’s compositional and Cathy Krier’s pianistic method via a choreographic approach that, using her own rich and powerful imagination, translates characteristic movements, techniques, and concepts of the score into dance.

The emphasis here, however, must be on translation, on moving from one thing to another, without given fixation: It is not a matter of re-creating the same in a different medium or form of art, but of extending and varying a complex multiplicity of movements, of states, forms, images and apparitions across different forms and media, a matter of formation, of becoming rather than accomplished forms.

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‘I was really impressed by the concept of her «Mosaikgleiche Augenblicklichkeiten, Skizzen zu Ligeti» and the severe work that she did on the performing aspect of it. I specially appreciated the refined conceptual relation between the very complex and rigid piano score and the open, even though surprisingly precise, movement pattern. This is why we decided to present the Ligeti project in our next autumn programation.’

– Roberto Castello, artistic director SPAM! – rete per le arti contemporani –

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Dates

Past

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17th November 2023 – Goethe Institute, Boston, USA

4th October 2023 – Arlene Anderson School, Scotland

3rd October 2023 – The Byre Youth and Community Arts, St Andrews, Scotland

2nd October 2023 – Episcopal Church Hall, St. Andrews, Scotland

30th September 2023 – St. Andrews Botanic Gardens, Scotland

29th September 2023 – Rothes Halls Youth Theatre, Scotland

29th September 2023 – BYCA premises, St. Andrews, Scotland

28th September 2023 – Yvonne Grey School, St Andrews, Scotland

28th September 2023 – Cosmos Centre Primary School, St Andrews, Scotland

27th September 2023 – Kaimhill Primary School, Aberdeen, Scotland

26th September 2023 – Gilcomstoun Primary School, Aberdeen, Scotland

25th September 2023 – Fusion Dance, Aberdeen, Scotland

25th September 2023 – Care Home Fergus, Dyce / Aberdeen, Scotland

25th September 2023 – Skene Primary School, Aberdeen, Scotland

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23rd September 2023 – Westbank Care Home, Aberdeen, Scotland

13th January 2023 – Tanzhaus, Zürich

1st July 2023 – RED, Norway

25th November 2022 – DanceBase, Edinburgh, Scotland

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18th September 2022 – City Moves Aberdeen, Scotland

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10th November 2022 – AnLanntair, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

16th – 17th October 2020 – Tanz*Hotel, Vienna, Austria

28th October 2019 – Wonder Women Festival, Lucca Italy

25th August 2019 – Kunstfest, Weimar, Germany

15th June 2019 – Premiere at Monodrama Festival, Luxembourg

György Ligeti

György Sándor Ligeti (1923 – 2006) was an Austro-Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as “one of the most important avant-garde composers of the second half of the 20th century” and “one of the most innovative and influential among the progressive figures of his time”. Cummings, Robert. (‘György Ligeti: Artist Biography’

Born in Transylvania, Romania, he lived in the Hungarian People’s Republic before emigrating to Austria in 1956. Limited in his musical style by the authorities of communist Hungary, it was only when he arrived in Austria that Ligeti was able to fully realize his passion for avant-garde music and develop new composition techniques. After experimenting with electronic music in Cologne, his breakthrough came with orchestral works such as Atmospheres (1961), for which he used a technique he would later call “micropolyphony”. After writing his “anti-anti-opera” Le Grand Macabre (1974-1977), Ligeti moved away from chromaticism and turned to polyrhythm for his later works. Burde, Wolfgang (György Ligeti, Eine Monographie)

Between 1985 and 2001, Ligeti composed a cycle of 18 Études for solo piano. They are considered as one of the major creative achievements of recent decades and one of the most significant ensembles of piano studies of the 20th century, combining technical virtuosity and expressive content, in line with the studies of Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy and Alexandre Scriabine, but addressing new technical ideas such as a summary of the concepts developed by Ligeti himself since the 1950s in his other works. Denk, Jeremy (Ligeti / Beethoven booklet)

TEAM

Elisabeth Schilling

Elisabeth Schilling is a dancer and dance maker. She studied at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatoire in Frankfurt a.M. as well as at TrinityLaban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (BA Dance Theatre) in London and at London Contemporary Dance School (MA Contemporary Dance)

Schilling regularly dances in international productions across Europe thus for example in the UK, Finland, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. She has worked for over 30 choreographers and well – respected companies such as Scottish Dance Theatre, Sasha Waltz (Repertoire), Trisha Brown (Repertoire), Koen Augustijn (Les Ballet C de la B), Clod Ensemble, Rosemary Butcher, Theo Clinkard, Fleur Darkin, Reinhild Hoffmann, Joe Moran, Mamia Company, Anu Sistonen, Rachel Lopez de la Nieta und Dog Kennel Hill Project, Candoco Company, Pablo Bronstein, Phil Niblock, Anna Parkina, Victor Fung Dance, Quang Kien Van, Bernard Baumgarten amongst others at institutions like Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre London, Sadlers Wells London, Grand Théâtre Luxembourg, The Lowry Manchester, Wales Millenium Centre.

She furthermore participated in research projects with Damien Jalet, Judith Sanchez Ruiz, Jorge Crecis and Henri Oguike. Moreover, she assisted Dana Caspersen (The Forsythe Company) at the event ‘UNDER I STAND’ at University of Southern California, Los Angeles as well as in the for Germany adapted version at Ausufern Festival 2018, Uferstudios Berlin.

Elisabeth has received numerous choreographic commissions: by Museum of Applied Art Frankfurt, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Scottish Dance Theatre Creative Learning, Tate Gallery of Modern Art (for Tate Live) in London, TrinityLaban, TEAK Helsinki, DACI Copenhagen, Bank of Cyprus; moreover WUK Vienna, KINDL Berlin and zeitraumexit Mannheim (with schaitlcosta).

Her work was furthermore shown in institutions like Saatchi Gallery London, Whitechapel Gallery London, MUDAM Luxembourg, Kunstfest Weimar, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Dag van de Dans Brussels and The Place, London, The Byre Theatre St. Andrews, Hunterian Art Gallery Glasgow, Dovecot Edinburgh, Maritime Museum London, Danshallerne Copenhagen (DACI), Faneromeni Festival Nicosia (amongst others).

Her choreographic creations have been supported by foundations, cultural funding institutions and residencies from differenent countries (Seoul Dance Centre, Dance 4 Nottingham, TripSpace London, DanceCity Newcastle, Trois C-L Luxembourg, Kulturstiftung RLP, FOCUNA, CityMoves Aberdeen, Koli Residenz Helsinki, WU Art Space Gothenbourg, Arbeitsplatz Wien).

Elisabeth co-curated the exhibition ‘Man muss das Leben tanzen. Kunst. Körper. Tanz. Wechselbeziehungen.’ (‘One must dance the life. Art. Body. Dance. Interrelationships.’) together with the Rhineland-Palatinate member of parliament Manfred Geis, in the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, which includes over 25 works by 12 artists from 9 countries.The exhibtion was recommended by the biggest German dance magaizine TANZ next to exhibitions at the MOMA, New York and the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Elisabeth has won several awards: Dance Umbrella (‘Young Spark’), Bolzano Danza and AWL Mainz.

Cathy Krier

Cathy Krier, born in Luxembourg in 1985, began her piano studies at the age of five at the Luxembourg Conservatory.Luxembourg Conservatoire at the age of five. In 1999 she was admitted to Pavel Gililov’s masterclass at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. In 2000 she recorded Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G major with the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Carlo Jans. In 2003 the Prix Norbert Stelmes was awarded to her by the Jeunesses Musicales du Luxembourg and, in the following year, the IKB International Foundation Prize

In 2005 Cathy joined Cyprien Katsaris for a four-hand performance at the inauguration of the Philharmonie Luxembourg. In 2006 she played at the Ruhr Piano Festival following an invitation by Robert Levin to join his masterclass. Further steppingstones in Cathy’s training as a professional pianist were an invitation to the Académie musicale de Villecroze and her participation in masterclasses with Dominique Merlet, Homero Francesch and Andrea Lucchesini with whom she undertook further study at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. In 2007 Cathy performed at the «Luxembourg and Greater Region – European Capital of Culture» opening ceremony. Besides her concerts at the Philharmonie, she also makes regular appearances at the Bourglinster, Echternach International and «Musek am Syrdall» Festivals in Luxembourg.

Cathy’s international concert engagements included performances in the United States (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington, D.C.) and the Netherlands where she played at Rolduc Abbey following an invitation from the Euriade Foundation. She also performed at venues across Austria, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Andorra, Italy, France and Belgium and was subsequently invited to play at the Summerclassics Festival and at Pianoplus Bonn, and to perform recitals at the K20/K21 Museum in Düsseldorf, the Luxembourg House in Berlin as well as at the Grand Théâtre and the Philharmonie Luxembourg.

In the last few seasons, Cathy performed at the Liepaja Piano Stars Festival, the Midi-Minimes Festival in Brussels, the Sint-Peter Festival in Louvain, the Spaziomusica Festival in Cagliari, at Schloss Elmau, the Hôtel d’Albret in Paris, the Leipziger Klaviersommer and the Mendelssohn-Haus. Further, she has been invited to be Artist in Residence at the Biermans-Lapôtre Foundation in Paris and was on tour in China.

Cathy Krier also played at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Körber-Stiftung in Hamburg, the Festival International Echternach, the festival “Nuits d’été à Pausilippe” in Naples and the festival “1001 notes” in Limoges. Furthermore, she has played on several occasions with The Berlin Philharmonic String Quintet and has been on tour in Colombia.

In addition to her work as a recitalist, Cathy has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Solistes Européens Luxembourg, L’Estro Armonico, the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra and the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under various conductors including Bramwell Tovey, Garry Walker, Pierre Cao, Yoon K. Lee and Atvars Laktsigala.

Her first solo recording with Scarlatti, Haydn, Chopin, Dutilleux and Müllenbach was released in 2008. Her 2013 recording featuring the piano works of Leoš Janáček released by the German label CAvi-music has been acclaimed by the international press for its originality and its richness. The recording has been awarded the “Coup de cœur” of France Musique and the “Pianiste maestro” of the French magazine “Pianiste”. In 2014 Cathy Krier released a CD, dedicated to Musica ricercata by György Ligeti and the Pièces de clavecin by Jean-Philippe Rameau, (CAvi-music / Deutschlandfunk) which has been recognized as a recording of reference (Wiener Zeitung). Her latest CD “Piano – 20th Century” was released in autumn 2015.

Cathy Krier has been chosen “Rising Star” by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) for the season 2015/16. In this context she performed amongst others a piece written especially for her by the renowned German composer Wolfgang Rihm. Appearances included Bozar in Brussels, Barbican Centre in London, Philharmonie 2 in Paris, Sage Gateshead, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Palau de la musica in Barcelona, Calouste Gulbenkian Fondation in Lisbon, Palace of Arts in Budapest, Konserthus Stockholm, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Cologne Philharmonie, Casa da musica in Porto, Musikverein in Vienna, Town Hall in Birmingham and Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.

PRISMA

Concept

Dates

György Ligeti

TEAM

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