Adriana Hölszky: ROSES OF SHADOW / MESSAGE

WEN-PIN CHIEN – conductor; ANGELIKA LUZ – vocals; JOCHEN MAUDERER – clarinet; PAUL HÜBNER – trumpet, euphonium, alphorn; MONIKA HÖLSZKY-WIEDEMANN – violin; DOO-MIN KIM – cello; NAOKO KIKUCHI – Koto; STEFAN HUSSONG – accordion; VILLE ENCKELMANN – piano; FABIAN CLASEN – drums

ROSES OF SHADOW (2016)
Sound Choreography for Soprano and Eight Instrumentalists
Texts from: "Did You Know That Trees Can Talk" Wisdom of the American Indians

MESSAGE (1990 - 1993)
Scenic Concert Piece for Mezzo-Soprano, Baritone, Speaker, Sound Props, Playback Tape, and Live Electronics

The long-standing collaboration with Adriana Hölszky - the Grande Dame of contemporary music - has led to the current HYBRID-SACD with the world premiere recordings of the works ROSES OF SHADOW and MESSAGE.

In ROSES OF SHADOW, Adriana Hölszky shapes a sound cosmos in unusual instrumental colors: voice, percussion, strings, winds, accordion, and piano blend with exotic instruments like the Koto and Alphorn. Nine sound centers connect to form pairs of timbres, and with the inclusion of the voice (speaking, whispering, creaking) and lip sounds also among the instrumentalists, the sound apparatus takes on the character of a 'ghost' ensemble. With titles and text fragments, an inspiring thematic link is created between the world of William Shakespeare and texts from North American Indians.
ROSES OF SHADOW is Adriana Hölszky's second composition for ballet, initiated by Martin Schläpfer for the Ballett am Rhein Düsseldorf Duisburg.

MESSAGE was created as a concert piece for the EXVOCO ensemble based on fragments from Eugène Ionesco's "The Chairs." Adriana Hölszky aimed to further develop her technique for spatial compositions. Two simultaneous voices, electronics, and glass instruments create a wide range of sound images.

Surround sound offers the perfect platform for Hölszky's composed music. The recordings were already realized in high-resolution audio technology and surround sound: the distribution of instruments, the movement in space are captured authentically, resulting in a natural and spatial depiction of the compositions. Hölszky's question, "Where does the sound come from and where does it go?" and the resulting tensions are made perfectly audible through surround sound. The subjective static nature of time perception acquires a special energy in space, immersing the listener in an acoustic "time-space journey."

Adriana Hölszky was born in Bucharest as a German-Romanian, studied composition with Stefan Niculescu and piano with Olga Rosca Berdan. In 1976, she moved with her family to Stuttgart, where she continued her studies (composition with Milko Kelemen, analysis, electronic music with Erhard Karkoschka, chamber music with Günter Louegk).
With the world premiere of her first opera "Bremer Freiheit" at the first Munich Biennale of Contemporary Music Theater in 1988, she achieved international breakthrough. Further major music theater works followed: "Die Wände" based on Jean Genet's "Les Paravents" was premiered at the Vienna Festival in 1995 under the direction of Hans Neuenfels. "Tragödia - Der unsichtbare Raum" premiered in Bonn in 1997, and the opera "Giuseppe e Sylvia" premiered in Stuttgart to great acclaim in 2000.
Her first ballet for Martin Schläpfer, "Deep Field," premiered at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf in 2014, and in the same year, the opera "Böse Geister" premiered in Mannheim. Her 50-minute work "EXODUS" for 12 percussionists premiered in 2016 at the ZKM Karlsruhe as part of the "Sonic Screens" festival.
Adriana Hölszky's compositions have been repeatedly performed at internationally renowned festivals: Tokyo Summer Festival, Akiyoshidai International Contemporary Music Festival, Gaudeamus Festival/Holland, Wien Modern, Steirischer Herbst/Graz, Donaueschingen Music Days, IGNM World Music Days.

Since 2002, she has been a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, and since 2003, a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. In 2003, she received the Bach Prize from the City of Hamburg, and in 2011, she received the Christoph and Stephan Kaske Foundation Prize in Munich. In 2015, she was awarded the German Music Authors' Prize by GEMA for orchestral composition.