Pierrot Lunaire—The Inaugural Concert of Der Gestanke

Welcome to the inaugural concert of Der Gestanke!

SPENCER WINELL: blood...all over my hands (2023)* 

A collage of expressions of madness throughout poetry, music, literature, and theater, presented as a path with dangerous curves. This piece was written during the first half of 2023, in which over 540 anti-queer bills were introduced in state legislatures across the U.S., and, as such, it is an expression of personal as well as political rage.

NICHOLAS TRANS: on becoming space // Emergent Becoming (2023)* 

“All this time I told myself we were born from war—but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty. Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence—but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it.”  —Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

SPENCER WINELL: reaching towards, reaching from (2023)* 

The general progression of the piece is betrayed by its title in that the music is constantly reaching both towards and from A4, eventually becoming totally consumed by it. The form consists of the strophe, which is expository; the antistrophe, which is reactionary; and the epode, which acts to summarize and juxtapose the two. Each is imbued with non-linear presentations of the particular materials.

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG: Pierrot Lunaire 

A setting of Three Times Seven Poems by Albert Giraud, translated into German by the Expressionist poet Otto Erich Hartleben. In this satiric work, evoking moods that are by turns ironic, melodramatic, and sinister, Schoenberg incorporates a highly specialized use of the speaking voice, the singing-speech delivery called Sprechstimme (or Sprechmelodie as Schoenberg terms it in his score), within an instrumental framework of jolting tonalities.

* world premiere

Rose Hegele – soprano
Hannah Elizabeth Tobias – flutes
Walter Yee – clarinets
Brian Stuligross – violin, viola
Ashtyn Brown – cello
Wes Fowler – percussion
Daniel Nerger – piano
Justin Taveras – conductor

Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera 
Concert Production Coordinator – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Manager of Performance Technology – Wes Fowler
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov

We’d like to thank Svens Skriveris, Nick Politi, Matthew Gellar, Claire Bostick, Megan McCafferty, Camille Fernandez, Caroline Schaffer-Robin, and Alexandre Robin