Ulrich Kreppein: Kopfraum

based on the poem ‘Sleepless City’ by Federico García Lorca

for 24 voices (2025) ^WP/20′

Arne Gieshoff: notes from sick rooms

for violin and piano ^WP/15′

Younghi Pagh-Paan: Wintersonne

for mixed choir a cappella (2013/2018) ^WP/8′

after texts by Rose Ausländer

Zeynep Toraman: Album for the Young

for violin and piano ^WP/15′

Agata Zubel: Abstract Paintings

for mixed choir (2025) ^WP/16′

after paintings by Gerhard Richter

Saviet/Houston Duo: Sarah Saviet, violin and Joseph Houston, piano

SWR Vokalensemble

Conductor: Susanne Blumenthal

Broadcast in SWR Kultur evening concert, live time-shifted, 8:03 pm

When the Polish composer and singer Agata Zubel began working on her choral piece, she saw images of Gerhard Richter in her mind’s eye: art that repeatedly reflects critically on society. A text by the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca is the starting point for Ulrich Kreppein’s work between song and noise. The instrumental duos by Zeynep Toraman and Arne Gieshoff emerged from a completely different perspective, relying on the duo’s great love of experimentation and each finding their very own poetry. In the late phase of her rich life as a composer, Younghi Pagh-Paan now sees the main task of music in comforting people.