"Goldbergs Traum" - an interview with Markus Korselt and Jana Günther
Robot experiences SKO!
An XR concert in the Beethovensaal
The SKO's latest digital project is another world premiere: After “Resonance” and “Holo Harmonies”, “Goldbergs Traum” takes a big step further into the future on October 3. SKO director Markus Korselt and director Jana Günther (XR concept and XR direction) give an insight in advance.
SKO: The SKO is once again doing something that has never been before. What is radically new this time?
Markus Korselt: “Goldbergs Traum” is an artistic playground where we experiment with digital technologies for a classical concert. Our musical heritage is a value in itself, no question. But it is not like nothing can be added to it. What makes this project special is not only the audiovisual immersion, but also the simultaneity of the elements, the overall view. You rarely have the opportunity to experience so many creatively interwoven things in one concert. However, we are not putting on a technical show, that would be boring, but a classical concert, or rather, a new kind of classical concert.
Excursus: May we introduce? The IKO loudspeaker. It is one of the technical protagonists in "Goldbergs Traum" and will create audible sculptures
in the room. Hard to imagine? Watch this video:
SKO: That sounds like a “total artwork”. What elements do you link together?
Jana Günther: So it's the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, two concert grand pianos, a small one-armed KUKA robot and Spot, a robot dog - in the story we're telling with the music, the two of them are the symbolization of artificial intelligence. Sound design as an art form in its own right also plays a role. There are also two IKO loudspeakers that create an amazing “spatial” sound in the Beethoven Hall, as well as three large screens for animation - as with “Holo Harmonies”, und the responsibility of award-winning animated film director Moritz Mayerhofer.
SKO: Musically, the program includes Bach's Goldberg Variations, the minimal piece “In C” by Terry Riley and a commissioned composition by Gerriet K. Sharma. How did it come to this selection?
MK: It all starts with Bach, he is the foundation of so many things. In the variations and in the patterns of Riley's “In C”, we find a structure that lends itself very well to digital expansion.
JG: And then there's the prologue and two interludes with sound design created by Ana Monte. She also recommended Gerriet Sharma for the composition when we were looking for an innovative and tech-savvy composer.
MK: Gerriet's world premiere for electronic music and orchestra will offer a new listening experience that we don't normally get in a subscription concert.
SKO: A live concert with orchestra, robots, AI, animation... what questions arose during the brainstorming process?
JG: We called the topic “human-machine interaction”. I think the word “wonder” is very nice here - we wonder and ask: Is the KUKA really “intelligent”? What is subjectivity, consciousness or individuality? What is motivation? What makes a person unique? Why is there a difference between an orchestra making music and sitting in front of 10 robots?
MK: At the same time, the concert "Goldbergs Traum" is like the “Magic Flute”. We can read the music in many different ways, but it can also stand on its own. The new approach is that, although it is technically complex, you don't need any preparation and can simply enjoy it.
SKO: How does the rehearsal and teamwork work for a classical-digital concert like this?
JG: The guiding principle is the music. All trades work on an interdisciplinary basis and must constantly coordinate with each other. Like on a 3D chessboard.
MK: I find it extremely exciting because there is even more interdisciplinar interlocking than with “Holo Harmonies”. Thank God it's the SKO. I don't know of any orchestra that is so musically agile and gets involved in such processes so quickly. With skin and hair.
SKO: You don't just put on a world premiere like that. What advice would you give to other orchestras?
MK: In the end, the technology must always serve the music. And the human component is and remains very important.
JG: Be curious, be brave, experiment! The SKO and my team from the digital world are currently learning an incredible amount from each other, which is something completely new. No one else is doing that yet.
Interview: Anne Sophie Meine
More infos to the concert: Goldbergs Traum - Stuttgarter Kammerorchester
Tickets
Details
Kulturgemeinschaft Stuttgart e. V.
Willi-Bleicher-Straße 20
70174 Stuttgart
https://www.kulturgemeinschaft.de/
Telefon: +49 711 224 77 20