Prague Spring brings one of the world’s most celebrated composers to Prague
This year’s Prague Offspring offers a historic first opportunity to encounter in Prague one of the leading figures of contemporary music, Unsuk Chin. Her works are commissioned and performed by the world’s most prestigious musical institutions, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the BBC Proms and the Bavarian State Opera. In exemplary performances by Ensemble Modern, four of her works will be heard at DOX Centre for Contemporary Art on 29 and 30 May, including Akrostichon-Wortspiel, the piece that made her virtually an international celebrity overnight, and the striking Gougalōn, inspired by Korean street theatre and deploying a full arsenal of percussion.
“I must have been about two and a half. We were living in a small house near Seoul and were very poor. My father, a Presbyterian pastor, bought an upright piano for church services. I remember it being brought into the house. I opened the lid and pressed a few keys. The sound struck me immediately. It was like crystal, clear and smooth like silk,” recalls Unsuk Chin of her first encounter with music. Something of that moment seems to have remained in her work to this day – reflections of her dreams, her fascination with astronomy, with infinity…
If you, too, would like to be “struck by sound” and come closer to one of the brightest stars of contemporary classical music, join us at Prague Offspring on 29 and 30 May at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art. Hear the unheard-of. It will be an unforgettable experience!
