On October 25, the XXII international contemporary music festival „Afekt“ will start, which this year will take place in Tartu, Tallinn and Narva. With the theme „Border State“, this year the focus is on the idea of a border state both geographically and as a musical expression, ideas taken to the uttermost extremes.
The focus will be on contemporary music and the socio-political issues of the countries on Europe’s eastern border. „Afekt“ will highlight parallel aesthetic characteristics of the border regions and place them side by side with the new music traditions of Central Europe. It will look at the influences of spectralism and musical extremes based on pure intonation and broader minimalist music.
The focus will be on internationally acclaimed composers such as Helena Tulve, Jānis Petraškevičs and György Ligeti, who has the 100th birth anniversary this year. World premieres will be given of works by Helena Tulve, Jüri Reinvere, Tatjana Kozlova-Johannes, Monika Mattiesen, Liisa Hõbepappel, Sander Saarmets, Thomas Nicholson and Agita Reķe.
The opening concert of „Afekt“ will feature Ukraine’s leading new music ensemble Ukho, whose program focuses on the masterwork „Vortex Temporum“ by the spectral music classic Gerald Grisey.
Ensemble U:, the flagship of Estonian contemporary music, celebrates its 20th anniversary with Garth Knox, a living legend of the contemporary music scene, and with the choreographer-director Mart Kangro.
The members of the Berlin-based Harmonic Space Orchestra, which focuses on just intonation, will present a program that includes works by Estonian composer Liisa Hirsch and ensemble members Catherine Lamb, Thomas Nicholson and Marc Sabat.
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra’s concert will be conducted by the contemporary music specialist Michael Wendeberg and will feature the actor and director Lembit Peterson as a reader.
An album of Elis Hallik – an Estonian composer who has come to prominence within the last decade – released by the prestigious Kairos label is presented at „Afekt“.
In cooperation with the „Üle Heli“ festival, an evening of listening dedicated to spatial sounds will take place. Curators are Aivar Tõnso and Sander Saarmets. The keywords of the concert of the master degree students of audiovisual composition of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre are remix and collective creation.
This year’s concerts will also take place in Estonia’s border city Narva. There one can visit Cyberstudio’s concert „t.i.m.e.“ and Sander Saarmets’s concert „Signals“.
The „Afekt“ festival will take place from October 25 to November 1 in Tallinn, Tartu and Narva. The artistic director of the festival is Monika Mattiesen.
More info: Afekt