ECHO CHAMBERS (2022)
PROJECT
As part of the festival “Romanischer Sommer” in Cologne, C. Fuchs and C.Thon received a composition commission in order to fill the Romanesque church St. Maria im Kapitol with orchestral sound.
On June 24, the Romanesque Night of the Cologne Festival “Romanischer Sommer” will be a very special concert evening. Being the “Grande Finale ” of the concert week, the FUCHSTHONE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA will present the world premiere of the program “ECHO CHAMBERS” in the largest Romanesque church of the city, St. Maria im Kapitol.
The line-up on June 24.th 2022:
Caroline Thon, Christina Fuchs (composition, conduction, arrangement),
Roger Hanschel, Martin Gasser, Veit Lange, (saxophone, clarinets, flutes),
Matthias Knoop (trumpets),
Matthias Schuller (trombones),
Zuzana Leharovà (violin),
Filippa Gojo (vocal),
Andreas Wahl (guitar),
Alex Morsey (bass),
Jens Düppe (drums)
Photo by Reinhard Doubrawa
Photo by Reinhard Doubrawa
For this occasion, the organizers of the Romanischer Sommer assigned Caroline Thon and Christina Fuchs with a composition commission. And so the two-part program with the title “Echo Chambers” consists exclusively of new compositions, which will be premiered by the FUCHSTHONE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA – for the first time in a small instrumentation as a “chamber orchestra”.
The following pieces are on the program:
PART 1 – INNER & OUTER ECHO CHAMBERS
(Composition: Caroline Thon)
For this premiere, the church of St. Maria im Kapitol with its very special resonance becomes a musical image of the interaction between external events and inner experience.
What happens on the outside creates an echo on the inside. Being an echo of what we have experienced, this influences our future experiences, perceptions and resulting actions. In the words of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Panta Rhei – Everything flows”.
It plays an important role to what extent we are able or willing to reflect on what we have experienced.
In analogy to this, one speaks in the science of sound (acoustics) of first, second and multiple reflections, which influence our acoustic perception of echo and reverberation. Our experience undergoes a more or less conscious reflection in different phases. To musically depict this analogy is the theme of the 3 movements subsumed under the title
“Echo Chambers- Reflexionen”:
1. Reflexion – Outside
2. Reflexion – Inside
3. Reflexion – Panta Rhei
Photo: Basilika St. Maria im Kapitol Köln, Provinzialverband der Rheinprovinz – Die kirchlichen Denkmäler der Stadt Köln
PART 2 – INNER & OUTER ECHO CHAMBERS
(Composition: Christina Fuchs)
Echoes (or reverberations) create an invisible network of reflections in space. This magic emerges in a very special way in Part II of this world premiere as part of the “Romanische Nacht” in St. Maria/Kapitol. This music is a free-flowing, orchestral work of art in space – the church becomes an Echo Chamber, a Cloud. Likewise, the term refers to a metaphorical sphere in which statements are amplified and disturbing noises – such as opinions to the contrary – are suppressed: the bubble in which we prefer to reside. This seeming contradiction of inside and outside is not resolved, but where better to perceive it than within an echo chamber? It is in the nature of the echo to always return, the same way we are thrown back on ourselves: Home.
Echo Chambers “Cloud Cluster”
1st set “Cloud”
2nd set “Bubble”
3rd movement “Home”
Photo Reinhard Doubraw
Mediaecho:
“… it [the FUCHSTHONE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA] enriches the Romanische Nacht in St. Maria/ Kapitol with a world premiere: the “Romanischer Sommer” has commissioned the leaders with a composition. For the ” Echo Chambers ” program, the big band will be performing under the name of FUCHSTHONE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA….”.
“… The composers Caroline Thon and Christina Fuchs themselves conducted their complex world premieres. They were able to rely on an excellent wind ensemble and distinguished string players. Moreover, the Austrian jazz singer Filippa Gojo fascinated with her nuanced vocal facets”.
