The Danish composer Simon Steen-Andersen surprises not only the ears but also the eyes of his listeners. He visualises sounds with extraordinary inventiveness, with humorous and sometimes surrealistic results.

Steen-Andersen has received countless distinctions for his work, including the Mauricio Kagel Music Prize of the Kunststiftung NRW in 2017. During this edition of the NOW! Festival Asko|Schönberg will perform Black Box Music, for which it received the prestigious Nordic Council Music Prize. The musical events in Black Box Music take place around a video projection of a box, in which two hands conduct the 15 musicians and a percussion soloist. In Michael Beil’s Black Jack the ensemble plays both on the stage and on the screen. Gesprek [Conversation] by Louis Andriessen and Martijn Padding is performed by two musicians who turn their language into an instrument and their instruments into a language.

Artists

LOUIS ANDRIESSEN & MARTIJN PADDING
Gesprek
MICHAEL BEIL
Black Jack
SIMON STEEN-ANDERSEN
Black Box Music

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
conductor and perscussionist Håkon Stene