A concert of music by Eva-Maria Houben

A concert of music by Eva-Maria Houben performed by Eva-Maria Houben and NEC students with pre-concert talk by Ms. Houben at 7:30pm.

Pre-concert talk with Eva-Maria Houben

Composer Eva-Maria Houben introduces her work and reflects on the music of Wandelwiser, a composer collective interested in silence, extended time, and continuation of John Cage's ideas. At the end of the talk, Eva-Maria Houben will take questions from the audience.

Concert Program

à l'unisson VIII (2014)
Clouds for two pianos (2015)
à l'unisson IX (2015)

~Intermission~

sweet and silent harmonies, for ensemble (2014)
Clouds, for piano solo (2015)
solo(ist) for ensemble (2015)
piano improvisation, Eva-Maria Houben (2018)

A few notes from Ms. Houben regarding the program:

During the last years I began to think about Musical Practices. Not primarily the score and the structure of the music get into focus but the activities and the situations of the performers. One important question was: Musical Practices—are they forms of life? This question shifts the emphasis from the structure of a composition to the activity of the performers; less so the composers and listeners and more so the performers find themselves in a listening situation of doing something and letting something happen. As a performer I am also a listener at the same time. Listening can be an active process, but it also can happen to you, it also can hit you. When talking about performance we focus on the performers’ activities. As soon as silence comes into play (and not only in this case, but in quiet moments it may become more obvious), the situation of being together or of being alone with oneself (for example during the performance of a solo piece) becomes acute, too. As a performer I can drift between activity and letting loose; I can experience that I cannot control everything. The situation opens the door to events and participation.

The pieces of this evening show different constellations and roles of performers playing in an ensemble, show the relationships between the performers. Then we find the relationship that emerges in a duo performance—and at last the solo performance as a special form of being alone.