© Archipel 2018, photo www.volpe.photography
The name says it all: the seven concert and opera soloists, ranging from coloratura soprano via countertenor to black bass, view themselves primarily as researchers and discoverers. To pave the way for new discoveries, they are involved in constant exchange with both established and young composers to research new sounds, vocal techniques and forms of vocal expression. This involves a particular emphasis on current music theatre, which incorporates the resources of electronics and video art more than ever before. Interdisciplinary work with visual art, literature and elements of early music are also part of this concept . In this context, the Neue Vocalsolisten have established the genre of vocal chamber music theatre with works by Lucia Ronchetti, Luciano Berio, Carola Bauckholt, Luca Francesconi, Claude Vivier, Georges Aperghis, Oscar Strasnoy and others. are leading specialist ensembles and radio orchestras, major international opera houses, the independent theatre scene, electronic studios, as well as numerous festival organisers and concert series for New Music all over the world. In recent years, the ensemble has attracted interest internationally with music theatre productions such as Freizeitspektakel by Hannes Seidl and Daniel Kötter, with performances
in Venice, Stuttgart, Madrid, Oslo and Warsaw, and also José-Maria Sánchez-Verdú's Aura in Madrid, Stuttgart, Venice, Berlin and Hamburg. 2014 was particularly full of unusual stage productions: at ECLAT, the 'video concert architecture'Mediterranean Voices was given its premiere. The all-day project about twelve identities from the Mediterranean region was presented in Stuttgart, Madrid and Venice, and 2015 will see further performances in Ghent, Victoria and San Sebastián. At the Munich Biennale, the Neue Vocalsolisten premiered the music theatre work Utopien by Dieter Schnebel and Sommertag by Nikolaus Brass. And Simon Steen-Andersen's music theatre piece Buenos Aires was premiered at the Ultima Festival in Oslo before travelling to 's-Hertogenbosch, Copenhagen, Aarhus and Huddersfield. Altogether, the Neue Vocalsolisten will premiere in 2015 over 25 works by composers including Mauro Lanza, Ramon Lazkano, Johannes Borowski, Georg Friedrich Haas, Joanna Wozny, Agata Zubel, Ondrej Adamek, Giovanni Bertelli, Cathy Milliken and Sergej Newski, as well as a music theatre work by the Belgian composer Annelies Van Parys. As in previous years, the singers will go on concert tours to numerous European countries, as well as Hong Kong and Victoria, Canada.
