New Zealand Stockhausen expert Robin Maconie will be a principal guest speaker at an international conference to mark the world premiere in Birmingham England of Stockhausen’s opera Mittwoch aus LICHT (Wednesday from LIGHT). The major cultural event is outstanding among many timed to coincide with the Olympics in London.
The five-hour long opera is famed for including the Helicopter String Quartet, a scene in which members of a string quartet play in four hovering helicopters, their music blending with the sound of the engines and relayed to the audience on the ground. Maconie's illustrated talk will address the conceptual and musical challenges of explaining this controversial music.
This is an opportunity to represent the best of New Zealand musical scholarship at a major international forum.
In 2012 Maconie published Avant Garde: An American Odyssey from Gertrude Stein to Pierre Boulez, a collection of essays including radio scripts for Radio NZ Concert on Boulez and Stockhausen. He has just completed a new survey of the music of Igor Stravinsky.
For further information contact the Stockhausen website or Robin Maconie, 7 Maine Street, Dannevirke 4930.
