Ensemble Resonanz / Kopatchinskaja

Patricia Kopatchinskaja not only makes music resound, but also sees it as a starting point for reflection and a variety of sensory experiences. In her staged concert »Prometheus«, the dedicated violinist takes the mythological figure of the same name as the starting point for an artistic reflection: the Titan once brought fire to mankind and with it knowledge, technology and culture, defied Zeus, the father of the gods, and formed humans himself – with ambivalent consequences. With the Ensemble Resonanz, Joonas Ahonen on piano and harpsichord and a sophisticated lighting design and visual concept, she creates a furious arc from late baroque to contemporary works.

From Beethoven to Xenakis
In Enlightenment times, the titan Beethoven composed his ballet »Prometheus and his creatures«. Echoes of this can also be found in his 3rd Symphony, the »Eroica«, which he initially dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte. Arnold Schönberg made reference to this in 1942 with his »Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte« op. 41 and created a musical declaration of humanity. Around 200 years earlier, the violinist Jean-Féry Rebel created melodious music out of chaos in »Les Eléments« in Paris. Iannis Xenakis, who took part in the resistance struggle against the Nazi occupation in Athens, was no longer able to realise his last commissioned work dedicated to Prometheus, but his late work »Voile« can be heard. This concert evening, in which Patricia Kopatchinskaja acts not only as a virtuoso violinist, but also as a recitalist, artistic director and conceptualiser, opens up these and other Promethean perspectives.