Project CONNECT, a Europe-wide initiative sponsored by Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, is forging new paths in musical communication with the public. In collaboration with four leading ensembles – the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Asko|Schönberg and Remix Ensemble –, CONNECT is creating new compositions that involve the listeners and have them take part in the concert. The goal is a fresh exploration of the relationship between the composer, musicians and audience as well as enabling the audience to have a participatory role.

The public will have the opportunity to experience the new interactive compositions by Philip Venables and Oscar Bianchi on 22^nd April, 2018, with the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, where British composer Philip Venables will be transforming the Frankfurt LAB into a TV game show, with the audience members as contestants. With his controversial piece The Gender Agenda, Venables not only dissolves the barrier between the audience and artists but also turns conventional gender roles upside down. The Swiss-Italian composer Oscar Bianchi will have the audience take part in producing the sounds.

With his knowledge of the practices of the oriental arts and the holistic philosophy that underpins them, Oscar Bianchi likes nothing less than to unify what is separate. His creative need is based on personal expressionism, where the listener is overwhelmed by fracture lines aspiring to merge into a total sonic burst. It would have been impossible to imagine a more legitimate encounter than that of Oscar Bianchi's compositional work with the project “connect / le public artiste”, whose brilliant utopia aims to decompartmentalise the musician on stage and the listener in the audience. Four ensembles, four audiences, four rooms: how 4x3 can be equal to 1… That’s what we’ll all be able to discover from 22^nd April.

(commissioned by the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne)

Oscar Bianchi - Orango
for ensemble & public participation
World premiere: Apreil 22, 2018 - Frankfurt -Germany

Ensemble Modern
Jonathan Stockhammer, conductor

Portuguese premiere: June 19, 2018 - Casa da Música (Porto)
Remix Ensemble

English premiere: March 16, 2019 - Queen Elizabeth Hall (London)
London Sinfonietta

Netherland premiere: August 26, 2018 - Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam)
Ensemble Asko/Schönberg 

US premiere: December 11, 2021 - DiMenna Center (New-York) - Cancelled
Ensemble Talea
More information...

Website of the composer ➡️ http://www.oscarbianchi.com/compositions/orango/