The Klang Office

New forms of music, performance, and art suddenly became conceivable, and their creation required nothing more than imagination and a willingness to experiment.

This era gave rise to a repertoire of “graphic scores” that require performers to create music in real time: partly improvised, partly open to the incorporation of unexpected influences dictated by the situation, time, and space.

The Klang-Büro Mini-Festival presents some of the most fascinating graphic scores from the “historical” avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as new works by living artists.

“Some of the ‘composers’ are visual artists, poets, or sculptors; nevertheless—or perhaps precisely because of this—it is important to us to emphasize that we have no interest in debates about artistic categories. Rather, we are interested in exploring what music can be when it is allowed to emerge outside of conventional categories, when we cast aside normative expectations about how music should be performed or what “counts” as proper or ‘real’ music.”

The event highlights the pioneering era of the 1960s and 1970s as a utopian ideal. In keeping with this ideal, Klang Büro is an independent research institute for discovery and innovation that is already creating the music of tomorrow.

Thursday, Oct. 1, 8:00 p.m.: Threshold Trio (Ilia Viazov, bass recorder/feedback; Marisol Jimenez, objects; N. Andrew Walsh, contrabassoon).

Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m.: Ensemble Gletsjer⁴ (Samuel Stoll, Abigail Sanders, Elena Kakaliagou, Morris Kliphuis).

Saturday, October 3, 8:00 p.m.: Threshold Collective (Johannes Heidelke, clarinets/electronics; Johanna Schmalöer, cello; Julian Schenk, double bass; Xueqing Yu, objects/movement; N. Andrew Walsh, contrabassoon).