MaerzMusik 2025: Yarn/Wire
Sarah Davachi / Jad Atoui / Clara Iannotta / Catherine Lamb
Concert
Yarn / Wire © Mark Sommerfeld
Ticket Prices
25 Euro, reduced 20 Euro
Tickets are sold via the Berliner Festspiele ticketing platform.
Information at: www.berlinerfestspiele.de/maerzmusik
Duration: 150 minutes, one interval
Based in Queens, Yarn/Wire is dedicated to energetic and insightful performances of today’s most adventurous music. As part of MaerzMusik 2025, the New York quartet will celebrate its Berlin debut with a concert at Radialsystem featuring compositions by Sarah Davachi, Jad Atoui, Clara Iannotta and Catherine Lamb.
‘Feedback Studies For Percussion’ by Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based Sarah Davachi is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, featuring harmonic structures that emphasise the gradual variations in texture set in motion by the ensemble’s pianists and percussionists. Overlapping systems of overtone reinforcement and acoustic feedback achieve a sort of timbral and harmonic space. Although the piece’s pitch and pace have been specifically designed to accentuate these phenomena, it is equally up to the four performers to practice an engaged mode of listening so as to respond to and control the sonic environment in real time. The intentional limitation in pitch material allows listeners to shift focus towards gradual changes in texture and dynamics and, by extension, the rich acoustic processes that are unique to percussive instruments.
‘In Memory’ by Beirut-based sound artist and improviser Jad Atoui explores recollection and its impact on our inspiration, emotions and reasoning. His composition is built on repurposed hard drives, transforming the mechanics of memory into music. Motors and needles become instruments, creating tones and rhythms, and the addition of cymbals offer a repository of the hard drives’ sounds. In a cyclical process of recording and playback, members of the ensemble morph and manipulate the sounds they emit using various techniques, in an act of reshaping memory as the past and present interact.
‘glass and stone’ by Roman-born, Berlin-based composer Clara Iannotta is a multimedia exploration of the distinct sonic properties of physical materials. This piece is a poignant, personal creation inspired by her relationship with her late mother who died in 2023 – an attempt at reconciliation with someone who “hated” her music and never once attended one of her concerts and yet who “adored” her as a parent. The work conjures up images from the past, drawn from family memories and incorporating visual elements such as old family footage and fragments of text, brought together through a truly musical style of editing. Raw, poetic and emotional both in terms of music and narrative.
‘Curvo Totalitas’ by Catherine Lamb – born in Olympia, Washington, and now based in Berlin – is a subtracted synthesis of one large metal square and one circle, allowing melodic contours to unfold slowly, branching into shifting harmonic arrays. A tam-tam and a steel sheet are overlaid, and two synthesisers allowing new shapes to continually emerge from the elemental interactions of tone. This technique stems from Lamb’s work in the realm of just intonation by exploring partial theory (extended just intonation) and variations in presence of materiality within unfolding forms and structures. A successful attempt to square the circle – by means of sound.
Cast
Piano
Laura Barger
Julia Den Boer
Percussion
Russell Greenberg
Percussion (guest musician)
Dennis Sullivan
Biographien
Yarn/Wire ist ein New Yorker Perkussions- und Klavierquartett, das sich der Förderung experimenteller Neuer Musik verschrieben hat. Seit seiner Gründung im Jahr 2005 hat das Ensemble für seinen Einsatz für innovative Kompositionen sowie für seinen kollaborativen musikalischen Ansatz breite Anerkennung erfahren. Durch unzählige Kompositionsaufträge in den letzten 19 Jahren verbindet Yarn/Wire eine enge Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen bedeutenden Komponist*innen wie Annea Lockwood, Enno Poppe, Michael Gordon, George Lewis, Ann Cleare, Catherine Lamb, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Evans, Alex Mincek, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Sam Pluta, Tyondai Braxton, Kate Soper und Øyvind Torvund.
Sarah Davachi ist eine kanadische Komponistin und Performerin. Ihre Praxis gilt der Kombination langsamer Akkordschichtungen und einfacher harmonischer Strukturen, welche Variationen in Klangfarben, Obertonkomplexität, psychoakustische Phänomene und mikrotonale Schwebungen in der Intonation in den Fokus rücken. Ihre Kompositionen umfassen Solo-, Kammerensemble- sowie akusmatische Formate, wobei sie ein breites Spektrum an akustischen und elektronischen Instrumenten einsetzt.
Jad Atoui ist ein in Beirut ansässiger Klangkünstler und Improvisator. Seine künstlerische Praxis umfasst verschiedene kreative Klangpraktiken, darunter Live-Performances, Kompositionen, Installationen und Workshops. Atouis Schwerpunkt auf elektronischer und elektroakustischer Musik ist von seinen Erfahrungen in der New Yorker Avantgarde-Szene geprägt, wo er sich während seiner Tätigkeiten bei The Stone und im Guggenheim Museum verschiedene Improvisationstechniken aneignete.
Clara Iannotta ist eine in Berlin ansässige italienische Komponistin und Kuratorin. Ihre Musik wird von renommierten Ensembles, Solist*innen und Orchestern in Auftrag gegeben und aufgeführt, darunter Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Arditti Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble intercontemporain, JACK, Klangforum Wien, Nikel sowie zahlreiche internationale Orchester.
Catherine Lamb erforscht als Komponistin die Interaktion von Tönen elementarer Tonalität sowie die Summation ihrer Konturen und Schatten; darüber hinaus Momente phänomenologischer Expansion und die Architektur von Übergängen und Schwellen (Zustände zwischen Außen und Innen) sowie die Form der langen Einleitung.
Programme
Sarah Davachi
Feedback Studies For Percussion
for two pianos and two percussion (2022)
A commission by Yarn/Wire
(European premiere)
Jad Atoui
In Memory
for four performers: hard drives, cymbals, transducers, live electronics (2024)
A commission by Yarn/Wire
(European premiere)
Clara Iannotta
glass and stone
for piano, keyboard, two percussion, video, electronics (2024)
A commission by Yarn/Wire and Festival d’Automne à Paris, funded by Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
(German premiere)
Catherine Lamb
curvo totalitas
for tam tam, steel sheet and two synthesizers (2016/2017)
A commission by Yarn/Wire
Credits
An event by Berliner Festspiele / MaerzMusik.
Based in Queens, Yarn/Wire is dedicated to energetic and insightful performances of today’s most adventurous music. As part of MaerzMusik 2025, the New York quartet will celebrate its Berlin debut with a concert at Radialsystem featuring compositions by Sarah Davachi, Jad Atoui, Clara Iannotta and Catherine Lamb.
‘Feedback Studies For Percussion’ by Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based Sarah Davachi is concerned with the close intricacies of timbral and temporal space, featuring harmonic structures that emphasise the gradual variations in texture set in motion by the ensemble’s pianists and percussionists. Overlapping systems of overtone reinforcement and acoustic feedback achieve a sort of timbral and harmonic space. Although the piece’s pitch and pace have been specifically designed to accentuate these phenomena, it is equally up to the four performers to practice an engaged mode of listening so as to respond to and control the sonic environment in real time. The intentional limitation in pitch material allows listeners to shift focus towards gradual changes in texture and dynamics and, by extension, the rich acoustic processes that are unique to percussive instruments.
‘In Memory’ by Beirut-based sound artist and improviser Jad Atoui explores recollection and its impact on our inspiration, emotions and reasoning. His composition is built on repurposed hard drives, transforming the mechanics of memory into music. Motors and needles become instruments, creating tones and rhythms, and the addition of cymbals offer a repository of the hard drives’ sounds. In a cyclical process of recording and playback, members of the ensemble morph and manipulate the sounds they emit using various techniques, in an act of reshaping memory as the past and present interact.
‘glass and stone’ by Roman-born, Berlin-based composer Clara Iannotta is a multimedia exploration of the distinct sonic properties of physical materials. This piece is a poignant, personal creation inspired by her relationship with her late mother who died in 2023 – an attempt at reconciliation with someone who “hated” her music and never once attended one of her concerts and yet who “adored” her as a parent. The work conjures up images from the past, drawn from family memories and incorporating visual elements such as old family footage and fragments of text, brought together through a truly musical style of editing. Raw, poetic and emotional both in terms of music and narrative.
‘Curvo Totalitas’ by Catherine Lamb – born in Olympia, Washington, and now based in Berlin – is a subtracted synthesis of one large metal square and one circle, allowing melodic contours to unfold slowly, branching into shifting harmonic arrays. A tam-tam and a steel sheet are overlaid, and two synthesisers allowing new shapes to continually emerge from the elemental interactions of tone. This technique stems from Lamb’s work in the realm of just intonation by exploring partial theory (extended just intonation) and variations in presence of materiality within unfolding forms and structures. A successful attempt to square the circle – by means of sound.
Cast
Piano
Laura Barger
Julia Den Boer
Percussion
Russell Greenberg
Percussion (guest musician)
Dennis Sullivan
Biographies
Yarn/Wire ist ein New Yorker Perkussions- und Klavierquartett, das sich der Förderung experimenteller Neuer Musik verschrieben hat. Seit seiner Gründung im Jahr 2005 hat das Ensemble für seinen Einsatz für innovative Kompositionen sowie für seinen kollaborativen musikalischen Ansatz breite Anerkennung erfahren. Durch unzählige Kompositionsaufträge in den letzten 19 Jahren verbindet Yarn/Wire eine enge Zusammenarbeit mit zahlreichen bedeutenden Komponist*innen wie Annea Lockwood, Enno Poppe, Michael Gordon, George Lewis, Ann Cleare, Catherine Lamb, Tyshawn Sorey, Peter Evans, Alex Mincek, Thomas Meadowcroft, Misato Mochizuki, Sam Pluta, Tyondai Braxton, Kate Soper und Øyvind Torvund.
Sarah Davachi ist eine kanadische Komponistin und Performerin. Ihre Praxis gilt der Kombination langsamer Akkordschichtungen und einfacher harmonischer Strukturen, welche Variationen in Klangfarben, Obertonkomplexität, psychoakustische Phänomene und mikrotonale Schwebungen in der Intonation in den Fokus rücken. Ihre Kompositionen umfassen Solo-, Kammerensemble- sowie akusmatische Formate, wobei sie ein breites Spektrum an akustischen und elektronischen Instrumenten einsetzt.
Jad Atoui ist ein in Beirut ansässiger Klangkünstler und Improvisator. Seine künstlerische Praxis umfasst verschiedene kreative Klangpraktiken, darunter Live-Performances, Kompositionen, Installationen und Workshops. Atouis Schwerpunkt auf elektronischer und elektroakustischer Musik ist von seinen Erfahrungen in der New Yorker Avantgarde-Szene geprägt, wo er sich während seiner Tätigkeiten bei The Stone und im Guggenheim Museum verschiedene Improvisationstechniken aneignete.
Clara Iannotta ist eine in Berlin ansässige italienische Komponistin und Kuratorin. Ihre Musik wird von renommierten Ensembles, Solist*innen und Orchestern in Auftrag gegeben und aufgeführt, darunter Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Arditti Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, Ensemble intercontemporain, JACK, Klangforum Wien, Nikel sowie zahlreiche internationale Orchester.
Catherine Lamb erforscht als Komponistin die Interaktion von Tönen elementarer Tonalität sowie die Summation ihrer Konturen und Schatten; darüber hinaus Momente phänomenologischer Expansion und die Architektur von Übergängen und Schwellen (Zustände zwischen Außen und Innen) sowie die Form der langen Einleitung.
