Michael Wendeberg, conductor
Helēna Sorokina, voice

PHACE
Doris Nicoletti, flute
Walter Seebacher, clarinet
Michael Krenn, saxophone
Stefan Obmann, trombone
Mathilde Hoursiangou, piano
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, percussion
Francesco Palmieri, e-guitar
Ivana Pristašová Zaugg, violin
Jacobo Hernández Enríquez, violin
Petra Ackermann, viola
Roland Schueler, cello
Alexandra Dienz, double bass

SOUND DESIGN
Alfred Reiter

In Maserholz, Rafał Ryterski explores the eponymous proliferating phenomenon in wood growth, which simultaneously represents deformation, healing, and homeostasis. Maserholz becomes a metaphor for organic processes in which growth and injury collide, intertwine, and lead to impressively interwoven results. Manuela Kerer‘s epicyclic noise (revised version 2018/26) takes up the epicycle theory, which, despite some inconsistencies, served for a very long time as an explanatory model for the movement of celestial bodies. Sound sources, sound-noise acrobats, and a string quintet orbit an imaginary center, complementing and opposing each other simultaneously, while the center is gradually undermined and ultimately loses its influence entirely. In AUTO FICTION, Alexander Schubert blurs the boundary between documentary and fiction, wandering through an altered archive of his most formative, intense, and outstanding memories. In Christoph Renhart‘s Échos éloquents, a dialogue unfolds between what is said and what is said back, woven through the silent backdrop of time. The work explores what speaks from the echo, what it does not say, what it swallows, what it stretches out, what fades away.

Programm

Manuela Kerer
epicyclic noise for Sound-Noise-Acrobats, string quartett and tape, 2026
(wp of the revised version, 2018/2026)

Christoph Renhart
Echos Eloquents for ensemble, 2016

Alexander Schubert
AUTO FICTION for ensemble and electronics, 2026 wp
Comissioned by  PHACE, Radio Österreich 1 in cooperation with ORF musikprotokoll and Music Biennale Zagreb, with support of the   

Rafał Ryterski
Maserholz for amplified ensemble, 2026 wp
Commissioned by Radio Österreich 1 in cooperation with ORF musikprotokoll for PHACE, with support of the , and friendly support of Polnisches Institut Wien

PHACE
Walter Seebacher, clarinet
Michael Krenn, saxophone
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, percussion
Francesco Palmieri, e-guitar
Ivana Pristašová Zaugg, violin
Clara Spieler, violin
Petra Ackermann, viola
Barbara Riccabona, cello
Alexandra Dienz, double bass

 

SOUND DESIGN
Alfred Reiter

 

In 2023, during a trip to Europe, Canadian composer Corie Rose Soumah found solace in a novel by an Austrian author: Marlen Haushofer’s “Die Mauer” (The Wall) moved Soumah so deeply that she was able to surrender to her grief and, in doing so, found comfort and the capacity for change and growth. These existential impressions inspired her string quartet “We, to be so transformed,” which will be presented alongside her new commissioned work, “the bloodred season comb(‘s) the sun,” at Klangspuren. This piece, in turn, draws inspiration from the poetry of American author Emily Carr. The other four short pieces of the evening are by Zara Ali. Her electronic composition “Red City” uses samples from the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart to shimmer through the space in a three-dimensional soundscape. In “thermo_doxa,” Ali explores the connection between heat and dogma, or more precisely, dogmatic religions from hot climates. The chamber music piece Passing Fragrance, Hidden Veil is inspired by a painting by Pakistani painter Abdur Rahman Chugthai, while in Circular scrape the sounds of a spinning coin are waiting to be transformed using digital means.

PROGRAMM

Zara Ali
Passing Fragrance, Hidden Veil for string quartet, 2025 ap

Zara Ali
Circular Scrape, electronic music, 2021 ap

Zara Ali
Red City electronic music, 2022 ap

Zara Ali
thermo_doxa for clarinet, viola, srumset and electronics, 2024

Corie Rose Soumah
the bloodred season comb(‘s) the sun ffor chamber ensemble, 2026 wp
Commissioned by Klangspuren Schwaz

Corie Rose Soumah
We, To Be So Transformed for string quartett, 2025 ap

PHACE
Doris Nicoletti, flute
Walter Seebacher, clarinet
Reinhold Brunner, clarinet
Michael Krenn, saxophone
Spiros Laskaridis, trumpet
Stefan Obmann, trombone
Mathilde Hoursiangou, piano
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, percussion
Francesco Palmieri, e-guitar
Ivana Pristašová Zaugg, violin
Petra Ackermann, viola
Roland Schueler, cello
Maximilian Ölz, double bass
Alexandra Dienz, double bass
and many more …

 

SOUND DESIGN
Alfred Reiter

 

Reality is malleable until it isn’t anymore – systems and orders teeter between fragile equilibria. Crises, social inequalities, climate change, and migration reveal new fault lines, while the digital information overload questions whether we can still trust our own eyes and ears. In THE UNSTABLE REAL, we invite you to experience this unstable reality, to perceive its fractures, and to rethink them – aesthetically, emotionally, socially, and politically. With Georgia Koumará, who explores a network of relationships, dynamics, and interdependencies, and Clemens Gadenstätter, who makes the interactions between the individual and the environment tangible over time. Eva Reiter uses utopian sound apparatuses to investigate the transformative potential of rituals, before Philip Venables holds up a merciless mirror and shatters the hypocritical illusions of our society with provocative, sexual directness. In between, the series is brimming with new material, sonic treasures, and music that challenges reality.

Dates in this series

#1 FR 27.11.2026 ⎹   STATES OF INTERMESHING
    #2 MI 26.01.2027 ⎹   FACES
        #3 DI 09.03.2027  ⎹   RITUS
            #4 DI 25.05.2027  ⎹   ILLUSIONS

With works by Matthias Kranebitter, Corie Rose Soumah, Davor Vincze, Georgia Koumará, Manuela Kerer, Rafał Ryterski, Clemens Gadenstätter, Eva Reiter, Philip Venables, Marco Döttlinger, Alexander Schubert. 

PHACE
Doris Nicoletti, flute
Walter Seebacher, clarinet
Reinhold Brunner, clarinet
Michael Krenn, saxophone
Spiros Laskaridis, trumpet
Stefan Obmann, trombone
Mathilde Hoursiangou, piano
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, percussion
Francesco Palmieri, e-guitar
Ivana Pristašová Zaugg, violin
Petra Ackermann, viola
Roland Schueler, cello
Maximilian Ölz, double bass
Alexandra Dienz, double bass
and many more …

SOUND DESIGN
Alfred Reiter

The belief in the power of ritual processes and verbal formulas is deeply rooted in human history. This very belief in the transformative power, the process, and the necessity of ritual “self-renewal” forms the core of Eva Reiter’s new project, RITUS. In the interplay between solo narration (solo, duo, trio) and choral commentary, each of the participating musicians develops into a central figure in the piece, telling their own unique story. Utopian soundscapes, directly linked to personal musical gestures, are the “instruments” that initiate transformation. In a spatial and theatrical-scenic staging, the music in RITUS explores the possibilities and processes of ritual metamorphosis, revealing a reality that until then existed only as potential—unseen, unheard, untouched.

PROGRAMM

Eva Reiter
RITUS a music-theatrical, spatial composition for Ensemble, 2026 (UA)
Commissioned by PHACE with support of the

Helēna Sorokina, voice

PHACE
Doris Nicoletti, flute
Walter Seebacher, clarinet
Reinhold Brunner, clarinet
Michael Krenn, saxophone
Spiros Laskaridis, trumpet
Stefan Obmann, trombone
Mathilde Hoursiangou, piano
Manuel Alcaraz Clemente, percussion
Francesco Palmieri, e-guitar
Ivana Pristašová Zaugg, violin
Petra Ackermann, viola
Roland Schueler, cello
Maximilian Ölz, double bass
Alexandra Dienz, double bass
and many more …

SOUND DESIGN
Alfred Reiter

1.873
In Illusions, Philip Venables, together with LGBTQIA+ performance artist David Hoyle, has developed a multimedia work for speaker (video) and ensemble. Hoyle’s video performance confronts the audience with a torrent of political tirades, personal attacks, grotesque humor, and provocative sexual directness. He attacks hypocrisy, social inequality, toxic masculinity, and consumerism, shifting linguistically between bitter seriousness, deliberate taboo-breaking, and cabaret-style mockery. And the music? It reacts with equal intensity: rhythmically aggressive, eruptive, then shimmering and disconcertingly smooth. Soundscapes and gestures function like distorted advertising messages or political slogans, interlocking with the images in a jerky, almost violent interplay that inevitably draws the audience in. Illusions is a merciless mirror that puts the audience to the test, questioning their attitudes as well as their role as consumers of art. New works by Alexander Schubert, who in AUTO FICTION blurs the line between documentary and fiction, wandering through an altered archive of the most formative, intense, and outstanding memories, and Marco Döttlinger promise a captivating and likely also haunting listening experience. The eleventh movement of Corie Rose Soumah’s States of Intermeshing series also thematically completes the cycle, bringing it full circle to its beginning. xi. épilogue explores eschatological forces, ecological crises, and self-discovery. “There are flowers blooming in Antarctica” – a poetic, fragile, sonically sensual piece, like a strangely peaceful echo after the catastrophe, revealing a glimpse into another fragile reality.

Philip Venables
Illusions (feat. David Hoyle) for ensemble und video, 2017 (ap)

Marco Döttlinger
New Work, 2026/27 (wp)
Commissioned by PHACE

Corie Rose Soumah
States of Intermeshing: xi. épilogue for violin, cello, piano and electronics, 2024 (ap)

P A U S E

Alexander Schubert 
AUTO FICTION for voice, ensemble, electronics and video, 2026
Commissioned by Radio Österreich 1 in cooperation with ORF musikprotokoll, PHACE with support of the