Canberra International Music Festival 2023’s concer 7 Ligeti100 is on Monday 1 May. Photo: CIMF.
In collaboration with the ANU School of Music
12pm – 1.30pm Ligeti100: the words
A free public lecture by Andrew Ford, presented by ANU School of Music
Andrew Ford, celebrated composer, author and presenter of the weekly Music Show on Radio National, has interviewed musicians and composers across the planet for decades. For this centenary event he looks back upon the extraordinary creative output of Ligeti and what it all means now.
2pm – 3pm Ligeti100: the music
A concert, in collaboration with the ANU School of Music
“First of all I listen to music. I like music” – György Ligeti
The Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti wrote some of the most striking music of the late 20th century. Immortalised through connections with film, dance and theatre, it includes the haunting theme to Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey.
Rooted in the Hungarian folk idioms, his early work was inspired by Bartok, but as he left Hungary behind, Ligeti began exploring new instrumental colours and textures with quasi-cinematic sound clouds. Over time, meticulous rhythmic and modal patterns created a sense of balance and action.
The Ligeti Piano Etudes have become a testing ground for modern pianists, while his Second String Quartet is a beacon of modernism. It takes intrepid performers such as Edward Neeman and the Alma Moodie Quartet to tackle such music. Expect dare-devil virtuosity alongside in-the-moment musical responses from improvisers such as Miroslav Bukovsky and John Mackey.
Presented in collaboration with the ANU School of Music, this Ligeti anniversary event features the community of creative musicians fostered by this world-class institution
“I am in a prison: one wall is the avant-garde, the other wall is the past, and I want to escape” György Ligeti from a lecture at the New England Conservatory in 1993
Program
György Sándor Ligeti (1923-2006)
The Big Turtle Fanfare from the South China Sea
Continuum (1968)
Three Piano Etudes
Désordre (Disorder)
Arc-en-ciel (Rainbow)
Automne à Varsovie (Autumn in Warsaw)
Ligeti re-mix
String Quartet nr 2 (1968)
Allegro nervosa
Sostenuto, molto calmo
Come un meccanismo de precision
Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso
Allegro con delicatezza
Ligeti re-mix
The Big Turtle Fanfare from the South China Sea
Artists
Edward Neeman, piano
Donald Nicolson, harpsichord
Alma Moodie Quartet
Miroslav Bukovsky and John Mackey with Aron Ottignon
The details
What: Canberra International Music Festival 2023 – Concert 7 Ligeti100
When: Monday 1 May, 12 pm to 3 pm
Where: ANU
Cost: General admission $60, concession $54. Tickets available here.
For more information visit Canberra International Music Festival.
