Born to Hungarian Jewish parents on 28 May 1923 in Transylvania (then in Romania, now in Hungary), György Ligeti was to become one of the most innovative and influential figures of the avant-garde and contemporary concert music in the latter twentieth century.
Best known in cinematic circles as the composer of Lux aeterna from Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A space odyssey, György Ligeti also wrote music that is featured in 2010, The shining, Eyes wide shut, Shutter Island, Heat, the 2014 remake of Godzilla, The killing of a sacred deer, and the radio series based on The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy. His early choral music (from 1946 to 1956) is mostly modal or tonal, inspired by Hungarian folk texts, and is replete with polyphonic patter and verse forms. Beginning in 1966 with his Lux aeterna, one is able to witness a second stage in Ligeti’s creative life – in which he employs arhythmic canons and modernist tone clusters to create fragmentary fantasies, extraordinary etudes, and a set of post-modern “nonsense songs.”
In this concert, The Esoterics will peform ALL of Ligeti’s music for a cappella mixed chorus – from his earliest work in 1946 to his last in 1993. Please join us for this extraordinary choral event on the weekend before Ligeti’s 100th birthday!
CONCERT REPERTOIRE:
Bujdosó (The fugitive) (1946)
Drei phantasien (Three fantasies) (1982)
Éjszaka (Night) (1955)
Haj, ifjuság! (Ah, youth!) (1951)
Hortobágy (Songs from Hortobágy) (1951)
Inaktelki nóták (Songs from Inaktelke) (1953)
Kállai kettős (A double-dance from Kálló) (1952)
Két kánon (Two canons) (1947 & 1952)
Lakodalmas (A wedding dance) (1950)
Lux aeterna (Eternal light) (1966)
Magány (Solitude) (1946)
Magos kősziklának (On the highest cliffs) (1946)
Magyar etüdök (Hungarian etudes) (1983)
Nonsense madrigals (1988–93)
Pápainé (Widow Pápai) (1953)
Reggel (Morning) (1955)
all works by György Ligeti