Concert programme 2024 "Home"
The English term "Home" can be translated into German as "Heim", "Haus" or "Zuhause", as well as "Heimat". The SSWO explores the diverse associations and feelings that arise from these terms in its 2024 "Home" concert programme.
Experience musical sketches about the majestic landscape of the Appenzellerland, the great twists and turns of life, the pulsating city of New York, about changing perspectives, the tingling feeling of new beginnings as well as the colourful description of crises and the associated hope for peace.
Commissioned work 2024
This year's SSWO commission goes to Lucerne composer and pianist Luzia von Wyl (*1985), whose preference for special rhythms, odd time signatures and colours make her compositional style unique. Von Wyl succeeds in creating complex but accessible, melodious but not banal, jazzy but not abstract art. The young musician draws inspiration for her SSWO composition from New York, where she lived for a year. "A city that inspires me a lot and that I miss. My home has always been Switzerland and yet New York has become a bit of a second home for me, far away from home," says von Wyl.
Fantasie über eine Appenzeller Volksweise
Paul Huber (1918-2001)
Inst. Carlo Balmelli
Fantasie über eine Appenzeller Volksweise
The opening work "Fantasie über eine Appenzeller Volksweise" by composer Paul Huber (1918 - 2001) is based on the Appenzell folk song "Wie baas isch meer do obe" (How good it is for me up here). In it, the Toggenburg native musically sketches his homeland with the majestic landscape of the Appenzellerland, the Alpstein and the parade to the Landsgemeinde. After studying in Zurich and Paris, Huber himself soon returned to his home in Wil and St. Gallen, where he made it his overriding musical goal to harmoniously combine tradition and the spirit of the times. A new instrumentation by Carlo Balmelli of the original composition from 1978 will be performed.
Traveler
David Maslanka (1943-2017)
Traveler
The US composer David Maslanka (1943 - 2017) explores the twists and turns and major changes in life in his composition "Traveler". The work was commissioned by the University of Texas at Arlington Band Alumni Association in 2003 to mark the retirement of outgoing UT Arlington band director Ray C. Lichtenwalter. Based on the chorale "Not so sad, not so much", the composer reflects on the last phase of his life, which he initially perceives as a joyful accumulation of all his experiences as a gift of life. As the composition progresses, the pulse of the music calms down and Maslanka prepares the listener for the next big step - a journey of the spirit, of the soul into time and eternity.
Fifth Avenue (Louboutin Sells Horns Now)
Luzia von Wyl (*1985)
SSWO composition
Fifth Avenue (Louboutin Sells Horns Now)
The SSWO's 2024 commission goes to Lucerne composer and pianist Luzia von Wyl (*1985), whose preference for special rhythms, odd time signatures and colours make her compositional style unique. Von Wyl succeeds in creating art that is complex but accessible, melodious but not banal, jazzy but not abstract. The composer writes a lot for her own ten-piece contemporary orchestra, the "Luzia von Wyl Ensemble", but also has a soft spot for even larger ensembles. The young musician lives in Lucerne and draws inspiration for her new SSWO composition from New York, where she lived for a year. "A city that inspires me a lot and that I miss. My home has always been Switzerland, but New York has become a bit of a second home for me far away from home," says von Wyl.
Break
Warp
Fabian Künzli (*1984)
New version for the SSWO
Warp
Fabian Künzli (*1984) from Thurgau, who teaches composition and arrangement at the Zurich University of the Arts, uses a single melodic theme as the backbone of the composition in his work "Warp" (from the English "to warp", to bend/distort). Patterns are developed and consolidated on various levels through repetition, for example a pulse that remains the same over a longer period of time or the setting of centres of gravity, which are then broken or placed in a new context. This forces the audience to change their perspective time and again: Rhythmic patterns, motifs, gestures and even harmonies are suddenly heard differently than immediately before. Künzli's work opens with a brilliant drive, which probably alludes to the warp drive often used in science fiction. A fictitious propulsion mechanism that would make it possible to travel at faster-than-light speeds by deliberately bending space-time and would allow you to be at home in different places almost simultaneously. The composition, which was commissioned by the Zurich Wind Music Association, will be presented by the SSWO in a new version by the composer.
Home away from Home
Catherine Likhuta (*1981)
Home away from Home
In her work "Home away from Home", composed for Columbia University in 2019, the young Ukrainian-Australian composer Catherine Likhuta (*1981) deals with the feeling of young students leaving the parental nest and building a new home ("Home away from Home"). Likhuta musically realises the exciting and emotional phase of cutting the cord and finding autonomy, the tingling feeling of a new beginning and the melancholy of looking back on what has gone before, mixing emotionality with traditional Ukrainian folk music. The concept of home is something very special for the composer herself: born and raised in Ukraine, she first lived in the USA for 11 years before moving to Australia in 2012. Today, she has found a piece of home away from home in each of these places.
The Colors of Tali
Thomas Doss (*1966)
The Colors of Tali
The final work, The Colors of Tali by Austrian composer Thomas Doss (*1966), although written in 2009, deals with a highly topical subject. It describes the perception of the religious conflicts between Palestinians, Christians and Jews from the perspective of the 13-year-old Israeli girl Tali. In the form of a poem, the child's view of these conflicts, which have been taking place in her country for generations and yet have not led to a solution, is portrayed. This touching and colourful musical description of war and destruction, but also a sense of home and hope for peace, is of particular significance in view of the current conflict in the Gaza Strip.