Freiheit II: Do you hear the people sing?

In the organizer's words:

Project on the theme of the Science Year 2024 "Freedom"
in collaboration with the Centre for Asian Transcultural Studies (CATS) and the China School Academy in cooperation with the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the educational program "China in the Schools!" of the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University.

Commissioned works by Ying Wang (UA) and Yiran Zhao (UA) as well as "Public opinion Descends upon its Demonstrators" by Robert Ashley and motets by Guillaume de Machaut

The year 2024 is marked by anniversaries of politically relevant events that are linked to negotiations on freedom, such as the adoption of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, the fall of the Berlin Wall or the Tiananmen massacre in China in 1989. Freedom is a basic prerequisite for political people; their participation is characterized by the possibility of communication between the governed and the rulers. One form of communication in connection with freedom struggles is music. In China, there is a very long tradition of poets and composers critically examining the prevailing conditions through their pieces. Following this tradition, the Chinese composers Ying WANG and Yiran ZHAO will artistically deal with the topic of "freedom" in China in new compositions commissioned especially for the project, whereby the project opens up a free space for art that should theoretically exist in China, but does not. These new compositions will be juxtaposed with Robert ASHLEY's Public Opinion Descends upon its Demonstrators (1961) and motets from the 14th century, each of which deals with freedom.

SCHOLA HEIDELBERG
ensemble aisthesis
Conductor | Ekkehard Windrich