July 2008
'Mask' performances across Europe, USA and Japan
Ensemble Modern
Following successful performances in Cologne, Venice, Brussels, Sardinia, Valencia, Porto and Amsterdam in 2006, Mask continues to be programmed by prominent European ensembles and concert halls.
Ensemble Modern successfully performed the work in Frankfurt on 2 April. Future performances will take place in Vilnius (26 October, Ensemble Modern), Tokyo (28 August, Tokyo Sinfonietta), and in LA (14 November). The Philharmonia Orchestra London’s ‘Music of Today’ series features a performance of Mask and a conversation with the composer on October 9 in the Royal Festival Hall.
In Mask, musical layers are covered and revealed. Overtone ‘masks’ in the soundtrack transform the colour of the notes in the instrumental ensemble, shifting the sound texture. The musical layers within the ensemble and soundtrack overlap one another; sudden interruptions rip a hole in the texture, revealing previously concealed layers. A percussionist obsessively pulls gaffer tape from a table surface, causing the ensemble to react with manic outbursts. As an old-fashioned metronome, operated by the percussionist, gradually becomes muffled, the soundtrack slowly robs the ensemble’s sound of its overtones.
Film opera. Libretto David Mitchell