New York Premiere
Oktophonie
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Rirkrit Tiravanija
March 20, 2013 - March 27, 2013
Wade Thompson Drill Hall
Karlheinz Stockhausen is one of the most significant composers of modern and electronic music, influencing artists from The Beatles to Bjork, Miles Davis to Animal Collective, Frank Zappa, and more. Performed by one of his original collaborators Kathinka Pasveer, the maverick composer’s Oktophonie from his opus Licht gets an exciting new life in an epic production of this monumental composition.
Acclaimed contemporary visual artist Rirkrit Tiravanija stages the work as the composer originally intended—in outer space—creating a lunar floating seating unit to fully envelop the listener in octophonic sound. Adorned in white, the audience takes a ritualistic musical journey from plunging darkness into blinding light to fully immerse themselves in the all-encompassing score and surroundings. The vastness of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall is the perfect setting to fully realize this rarely performed work that Stockhausen so boldly envisioned in its highly-anticipated New York premiere.
Performances
Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 8:00pm
Friday, March 22, 2013 at 8:00pm
Saturday, March 23, 2013 at 4:00pm & 8:00pm
Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 4:00pm & 8:00pm
Monday, March 25, 2013 at 8:00pm
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 at 8:00pm
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 8:00pm
Performance Details
Seating will be on cushions with backs directly on the lunar surface. Participants are invited to wear white, and white cloaks will also be provided. This event will take place without intermission, and there is no late seating.
“Fully surrounded by heavy curtains of sound and aural images…the piece demands your attention ... Never before has the austerity of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall fed such fantasy.”
The Huffington Post
“A pseudo-religious, surround-sound fantasia … [in] the city’s leading venue for large-scale avant-garde attractions.”
The New Yorker
“…the 55,000-square-foot drill hall at the Park Avenue Armory has been the site of choice for immersive theatrical, operatic and musical presentations.”
The New York Times
“This wasn’t mere ambience or ear candy by a long shot…but rather a life-and-death battle royale for the soul of humanity.”
The Village Voice
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Wade Thompson Drill Hall
Inside Light
Electronic selections from classical renegade Karlheinz Stockhausen's magnum opus, Licht, are performed as separate parts or in a full marathon with transformative lighting and video projections to fully immerse audiences in all-encompassing sound and surroundings.
Support
Oktophonie is supported, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
Special thanks to the Stockhausen Foundation for Music, Kürten, Germany.
