Cantus Ansambl
 

Xenakis

In collaboration with the Croatian Music Institute and the ORIS House of Architecture, the Cantus Ensemble hosted a three-day event in January 2017 dedicated to Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis.
 
The Croatian Music Institute hosted the round table titled ‘Xenakis – Scientific Thought and Artistic Creation’, moderated by musicologist Seadeta Midžić, with Marcel Bačić, Aleksandar Durman, Nikša Gligo, Sanja Kiš Žuvela and Berislav Šipuš participating. Continuing a series of lectures at the Croatian Music Institute (HGZ) that seek to underline the historical roots of the new, the round table touched upon one of the focal points of the 20th century music – the opus of composer Iannis Xenakis. Scientific methods and principles meet on the wings of his powerful talent and very diverse yet deeply felt culture, and are enriched with the superiority of direct knowledge and experience of beauty through art.
 
“Art, and, above all, music, has a fundamental function, which is to catalyze the sublimation that it can bring about through all means of expression,” said Xenakis, while Kundera might have recognized precisely that as a “deafening noise of emotions.”
 
During an exhibition ‘Iannis Xenakis and UPIC electronic music’ held at the ORIS House of Architecture, members of the Cantus Ensemble performed some of Xenakis’ pieces such as Keren for solo trombone (Mario Šincek) and Charisma for clarinet and cello (Danijel Martinović, clarinet; Jasen Chelfi, cello).
 
The high point was, undoubtedly, a concert in the Cantus@Lauba cycle that really showed a thus far unprecedented interest in Xenakis. It is, therefore, clear that Xenakis, regardless of his position as one of the anthological composers of the 20th century, is still to some extent an avant-garde of the avant-garde and, for this reason, also unusually enticing. 
 
Cantus Ansambl
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Concert cycle Cantus Ansambl is supported by City of Zagreb and international activities by Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.