Performance+Talk Sessions are part of ”Temporality of the Impossible: contemporary violin music, aesthetics, technique and performance”, an artistic research that started as a personal curiosity but grew into a PhD research, now taking place at the CeReNeM and HuCPeR, at the University of Huddersfield (UK).

"These are intentionally as difficult as I can make them, because I think we’re now surrounded by very serious problems in society, and we tend to think that the situation is hopeless and that it’s just impossible to do something that will make everything turn out properly. So I think that this music, which is almost impossible, gives an instance of the practicality of the impossible." - John Cage, about "Freeman Etudes"

In the season 2016/2017 there were four “Performance+Talk Sessions”.

•Program from the seesions

⌈Session #1: 05.03.2017.

• Samuel Cedillo: Monologo I: Laja del tiempo, for solo violin*
• Helmut Lachenmann: Toccatina, for solo violin
• Aaron Cassidy: The Crutch of Memory, for solo violin*
• Baudouin de Jaer: Sonate no2 “Jamais de l’Abime”
• John Cage: Freeman Etudes (selection), for solo violin
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Sei Capricci, for solo violin

⌈Session #2: 30.04.2017

• John Cage: Freeman Etudes (selection), for solo violin
• Helmut Lachenmann: Toccatina, for solo violin
• Baudouin de Jaer: Sonate no2 “Jamais de l’Abime”
• Yûta Bandoh:Untitled [fantastic], for solo violin*
• Aaron Cassidy: The Crutch of Memory, for solo violin
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Sei Capricci, for solo violin

⌈Session #3: 11.06.2017.

• Aaron Cassidy: The Crutch of Memory, for solo violin
• Dmitri Kourliandski: “prePositions”, for solo violin
• Zach Seely - Personal Gravity, for solo violin*
• John Cage: Freeman Etudes (selection), for solo violin
• Helmut Lachenmann: Toccatina , for solo violin
• Aaron Cassidy: the green is where**, for solo violin
• Salvatore Sciarrino: Sei Capricci, for solo violinn

⌈Session #4a: 08.01.2017.

• Salvatore Sciarrino: Sei Capricci, for solo violinn

⌈Session #4b: 01.07.2017.

• Zach Seely - Personal Gravity, for solo violin

* Belgian premier
** World premier

About Temporality of the Impossible

The lasting curiosity of composers in the exploration of new sounds continues the legacy of creating music that is fresh, “new” and challenging not only for listening and perception, but also to artistry and understanding of music, and technique. Subsequently, performers continue to be challenged by these pieces demanding unconventional approaches. “Temporality of the Impossible”, focuses on these challenges, and pieces often described as “impossible to play” (Pritchett, 1994), and addresses firstly from the perspective of the violinist, and than shared with audience, two important and inseparable parts of music and performance: the tangible and the abstract. The former investigates challenges of the extended violin techniques, that beside physical occasionally challenge psychological abilities of performers, and the notation. The latter investigates the shaping of sensibility for understanding the music. The aim of this project is questioning what is this “impossible” and how do we overcome it, offering an alternative approach to virtuosity from “tool solely to impress” to a challenge to overcome. The interest of “Temporality of the Impossible” is not solely the challenges of techniques and notation. It is about the re-shaping of the understanding “new”, or rather the unconventional, aesthetics, sensibility and expressivity, and seeking out whether and how do we grow into understanding and appreciating the unconventional.