Dhe exact time of the dress rehearsal is secret, although it will take place in public – albeit some night in the coming week, well before dawn. In the haze of the Elbphilharmonie, hundreds of computer-controlled, glowing drones will rehearse the approach and dance around the building for minutes before returning to their take-off and landing site as an electric cloud.
“Breaking Waves” is the name of the flowing installation by the Dutch artist duo Drift, whose premiere will start at 11 p.m. on April 28 at the opening of the Hamburg International Music Festival. The work was originally supposed to be shown on the concert hall’s fifth birthday in January, but it was postponed due to the pandemic.
After the opening concert by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, thousands of onlookers can follow the flight of the drones free of charge, which will be repeated on the three following evenings at 10:30 p.m. The best locations for the experience include places from which the western tip and the southern flank of the building are clearly visible, for example the Landungsbrücken or opposite the musical boulevard in front of the “Lion King”. Barge companies offer light trips on the Elbe for the event. The Plaza of the Elphilharmonie will remain closed during the flight for security reasons.
Studio Drift: Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta
Quelle: Teska van Overbeeke
The artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta from Drift were inspired for their choreography by the second movement of Thomas Adés’ piano concerto. The flight synchronizes the movements of the Elbe waves, the waves of the architecture and the waves of the music. Anyone who would like to hear the Adés sounds accompanying the light installation can stream them live on their smartphone at www.elbphilharmonie.de, ideally using headphones.
Gordijn and Nauta are currently presenting their light installation “Social Sacrifice”, their first indoor drone performance, at Ocean Space in Venice. The artists use it to show what happens when a swarm of fish, represented by drones, encounters an attacker in nature. It is about a saving reaction with the help of swarm intelligence when an entire group is threatened from outside. Current installations by Drift can be seen not only at the Biennale, but also in Hamburg. The Museum of Arts and Crafts is showing the “Moments of Connection” show until May 8th.
Gordijn and Nauta are looking forward to the premiere of “Breaking Waves” in Hamburg. From Tuesday the duo will be working on the flight project on site. “First we solve the last small technical difficulties, then comes the fine-tuning,” says Lonneke Gordijn in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG.
The biggest problems have already been overcome. The swarm was originally supposed to start from a pontoon, but the computer control failed due to the movement of the tide. “Now the drones take off from a platform on the other bank of the Elbe,” says Gordijn. “It was difficult to get permission to fly because there is so much activity on this section of the Elbe. But now everything is settled.” With his installations, Drift shapes a forward-looking concept of nature that understands nature as sophisticated high-tech, appreciates its perfection and emulates it. The drones are sometimes reminiscent of a swarm of fish, sometimes of starlings, sometimes, like during the flight in Hamburg, of waves. The installation fits in perfectly with the music festival theme of “nature”.
Singer, violinist and composer Caroline Shaw
Source: Elbphilharmonie
After the opening with the oratorio “The Creation” by Joseph Haydn, performed by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra conducted by Alan Gilbert, the music festival unfolds even more radiance. In addition to large orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, soloists such as violinist Julia Fischer and pianist Yuja Wang appear. Brad Mehldau plays with the Hamburger Symphoniker, Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Caroline Shaw will be a guest at the Elbphilharmonie for the first time. Artistic Director Christoph Lieben-Seutter, who has just extended his contract until 2029, raves about the “consistently likeable singer, composer and violinist, who has been a big name in America for years”. Breaking musical boundaries, Shaw worked with rapper Kanye West after studying violin at Yale University. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her experimental a cappella composition “Partita for 8 Voices”.
Caroline Shaw performs as a singer at the music festival on May 17, accompanied by the quartet Sō Percussion. Shaw is firmly committed to the fight against climate change and thus fits in with the critical aspect of the music festival’s theme of “nature”, which will play a major role in the music festival alongside the romantic understanding of nature in classical music. Because other artists also have a clear position. For example, violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja will be presenting a panel discussion with chamber music on the subject of “Art and Climate” in the Small Hall of the Laeiszhalle on May 15. The next day she plays her staged concert “Les Adieux” with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, which takes Beethoven’s Pastorale as the starting point – as a statement for nature conservation.
Christoph Lieben-Seutter also has a firm position on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the appearance of Russian artists: “While I consider strict sanctions against Russia and military support for Ukraine to be indispensable, I am convinced that art is not suitable for boycotts appropriate”, says the artistic director, because one of the most important characteristics of music is “to communicate beyond ideologies, to connect peoples and to express the unspeakable. Art is always subversive. So there is no greater favor we can do Putin than to condemn Russian culture outright.”
Lieben-Seutter warns against “self-appointed moralizers” and against boycotting Russian music or artists who have no affiliation with the regime. However, one should not work with state institutions from Russia “because it can be used by the Russian side for propaganda”.