Sound Dome – Listening Pieces for 47 Loudspeakers

47 loudspeakers – four concerts. On Saturday evening, four different sound pieces will be performed in the cube of the ZKM as part of the ARD Radio Play Days.

The first piece was written by Curtis Roads in 2010–2016. With »Then«, Curtis Roads invites you on a voyage of discovery to get to know his experimental analogue technology in an open and unbiased way.

With the composition »Bursty Exorbitance« Kosmas Giannoutaki explores the eruptive sound qualities of so-called generative feedback networks. Continuous sound streams are generated, eight-channel and computer-generated, with explosive and recalcitrant character.

Students of music design at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen and authors of the UNESCO City of Literature Heidelberg have together developed ten short radio plays – from fairy tales to SciFi. Two of them will be presented in a multi-channel version for the Sound Dome.
The project was initiated and directed by Dr. Andrea Edel (UNESCO City of Literature Heidelberg) and Prof. Dr. Ludger Brümmer. Furthermore, Felix Kubin and Iris Drögekamp supported and advised the students during the radio play recordings.

The last radio play »Onomatonien« was composed and realized by »Die Soziale Gruppe«. The collective consists of Anne Munka and Jan F. Kurth. Each part of the cycle is determined by the specific sound of a specific speech expression and its sound formation. The chamber music anthropogenic intimacy of the vocal duo is interrupted and re-established by collaged O-tone intermezzi. Depending on the point of view, the relationships between the two protagonists and the view of the musical communication systems that develop change. The voice as a tool is tested here in its entirety – for discovering, activating, remembering and revealing.

Curtis Road, »Then«, 2010–2016, ca 16 min
Kosmas Giannoutakis, »Bursty Exorbitance (UA)«, 2018, ca 9 min
Die Soziale Gruppe, »Onomatonia«, production SWR 2019, ca 30 min