alif | stefan goldmann

alif

alif rehearsals 11

alif is a large-scale music theatre / concert installation project, developed in collaboration with samir odeh-tamimi, jeremias schwarzer and chiharu shiota. alif features salome kammer, zafraan ensemble and folkert uhde.

premiere: maerzmusik festival – radialsystem, berlin, march 18 & 19th, 2016
june 10, 2016: ION festival, nürnberg, germany

with a duration of five hours, alif spans an evening of newly composed electronic works by stefan goldmann and ensemble and chamber works by samir odeh-tamimi, as well as improvised dialogues between electronics and voice, recorder and organ. vocal performer salome kammer’s protagonist role is embedded in a contrasting array of synthetic voice-like sound layers.

staged in a spatial setting developed by folkert uhde, the music is interwoven with a room-spanning installation by visual artist chiharu shiota. shiota’s installation consists of a vast network of transparent tubes through which a red liquid is pumped in polymetric rhythmic cycles. the installation’s layout shifts over time, with musicians altering their positions within the setting. enhanced by audio and video amplifications, aural and visual aspects of this specific grouping of installation and music form an integrated temporal and spatial entity.

at the berlin premiere, the audience entered the room through a tunnel below radialsystem, to find itself ascending to a diving bell-like environment. within the room different areas and viewpoints could be explored, changing perspectives over time.

the nuremberg version underwent significant adaptations, developed as site-specific aspects of the work addressing the acoustics and layout of the historic st.lorenz church. The performance integrated multi-channel diffusion, directing sound into different reverberant subsettings within the nave, and extensive improvised exchanges between stefan goldmann and experimental organist jan dolezel.

alif rehearsal 2