Non-Piano/Toy Piano 2020
Once Upon a Toy Piano

Friday 13 Nov 2020 / 6 pm Cinderella Part 1
Friday 13 Nov 2020 / 9 pm Cinderella Part 2
Saturday 14 Nov 2020 / 6 pm Witchcraft Part 1
Saturday 14 Nov 2020 / 9 pm Witchcraft Part 2
resonanzraum Feldstraße 66, 20359 Hamburg

The  Non-Piano/Toy Piano Weekend dives into a magical world of princesses, princes, witches, enchanted creatures, magical objects, exploring traditional versions to present day takes and twists of fairy tales and their characters.

Our Weekend begins with The Good and ends with The Bad, with Cinderella being our first evening’s theme and Witchcraft being that of our second evening.  

In Cinderella five commissioned works give new interpretations of Cinderella and her comrades Rapunzel and the Little Mermaid. Strong-headed, brave, good-hearted and kind: do they all have the fate to become simply the wives of handsome, rich princes? 

The second evening brews up a gust of black magic with sinister characters, potions and spells where a witches meet is recreated and the struggle between life and death of beloved characters and their villains unfolds.

Needless to say there are also storytellers, magic wands and of course… magical kisses! 

 

Evening 1: Cinderella

The first evening uses Cinderella as an embarkation through tales of fairy tale heroines and the ambiguities of happily ever-afters. 

With our fortunate heroines, works by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Laura Livers, Dong Zhou and Ewelina Nowicka encompass Cinderella’s rise from poor servant  to triumphant end. Particularly new perspectives are shown with two pieces by Dong Zhou’s Go Cut Your Foot in which voices of Cinderella’s stepfamily speak out of amplified shoes and predict her fate. In Zhou’s Not My Quipao, a female figure tries to force herself into a much too tight dress in order to be perceived desirable. Laura Liver’s Saudade de Cendrillon (nostalgic yearnings for Cinderella), depicts a new realistic portrait of Cinderella as a diverse, profound and contradicting multifaceted figure. 

In Sascha Lino Lemke’s new piece the carefully chosen instruments of pink recorder and  pink midi piano have a crucial  part in the portrayal of Rapunzel. And the mermaid ready to risk everything for love  is exemplified by dancer Lara Hahnel accompanied by toy piano in Steffen Wolf’s The Little Mermaid. 

 

Evening 2: Witchcraft 

The second evening brews up a gust of black magic with  sinister characters, potions and spells. A highlight of the evening is the seldom performed classic Trilogia from Adriana Holszky for vocal quintet which brews up a sinister, wicked mischief through the hissing, rattling and scratching of a witches’ meet. 

The big bad wolf is summoned up several times in David J. Lang’s The Three Little Pigs and two versions of Little Red Riding Hood: the same named beloved classical Etude by Rachminoff alongside a new premiere by Benjamin Scheuer for toy piano and electronics. 

And  in Casey Cangelosi’s Bad Touch, menace & evil radiate from a hidden figure in the dark of whom we only see hands performing an intricate ritual with a stick to frantic, bewildered background  voices. 

What fairy tale is not associated with opening up a volume of  the Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales or hearing the famous words ‘Once upon a time’? In both evenings the aspects of storytelling entwines the enchanted tales together with John Cage’s Living Room Music  and Franceso Fildei’s Esercizio di Pazzia II for a quartet performing on paper pages. 

We are pleased to present works by: the Beatles, John Cage, Casey Cangelosi, Erik Griswold, Adriana Hölszky, Benjamin Scheuer, Moritz Eggert, Francesco Filidei, David J. Lang, Sascha Lino Lemke, Laura Livers, Ewelina Nowicka, leDon Oh, Sergei Rachminoff, Jacob Sello, Steven Tanoto, Steffen Wolf, Dong Zhou with guest musicians portraying the fairy tale characters such as recorder player Lilli Pätzhold: Rapunzel, violinist Ewelina Nowicka and Meredith Nicoll: Cinderella,  Lara Hahnel: the little Mermaid with Frauke Aubert directing the Hölszky Quintet and percussionists Cornelia Monske and Lin Chen. 

Program

Evening 1: Cinderella

Concert 1

John Cage Living room music: 1 To Begin, II Story, III Melody, IV End (1940) for 4 performers
Laura Livers Saudade de Cendrillon (world premiere) for voice, melodica, toy piano & Elektronik
Dong Zhou Go Cut Your Foot for performer, slippers & media
Ewelina Nowicka Cinderella for violin and Non-Piano Ensemble
Moritz Eggert Luftküsse for 6 performers

Concert 2 

Rodgers & Hammerstein In my own little corner (from Cinderella) for Non-Piano Ensemble and singer
Sascha Lino Lemke Rapunzel (world premiere) for pink plastic recorder,  pink midi-toy piano & electronics
Dong Zhou Not my Quipao for performer, amplified dress and electronics
Casey Cangelosi Bad Touch (2013) for percussion & playback
Steffen Wolf The Little Mermaid (world premiere) for dancer & toy piano Moritz Eggert Luftküsse for 6 performers
Beatles/Tanoto Strawberry Fields for singer and Non-Piano Ensemble

Evening 2 Witchcraft

 

Concert 3 

Adriana Hölszky Vampirabile  – Lichtverfall from Trilogia (1988)
for 5 female singers and percussion instruments
Adriana Hölszky Monolog from Trilogia (1977) for solo voice and timpani
Adriana Hölszky Es kamen schwarze Vögel from Trilogia (1978)
For 5 female singers and percussion instruments

Concert  4

Erik Griswold Down the Rabbit Hole for toy piano
Jacob Sello drumcircle for cauldron and electronics
Francesco Filidei Esercizio di pazzia II for 4 performers
Sergei Rachmaninoff/Tanoto Little Red Riding Hood, Op. 39, No. 6 (1916-7) for 3 toy pianos und 3 melodicas
Benjamin Scheuer Red Riding Hood (world premiere) for toy piano and electronics
IeDon Oh  I’m a toy piano for toy piano (
David J. Lang Three Little Pigs for Non-Piano Ensemble
Moritz Eggert Luftküsse for 6 performers

Participants

piano/melodicas/toy pianos Bernhard Fograscher, Ninon Gloger, Jennifer Hymer, Daria-Karmina Iossifova, Steven Tanoto
Voice Frauke Aulbert, Moxi Beidenegl, Marcia Lemke-Kern, Meredith Nicoll, Ulrike Bartusch, Laura Livers
Percussion Cornelia Monske, Lin Chen, Taleja Grossman
Dance Lara Hahnel
Recorder Lilli Pätzold
Director Maike Schuster
Electronics Jacob Sello, Sascha Lino Lemke

Thanks to: