into the darkness

The Konus Quartett presents a concert featuring recent compositions by William Dougherty and Didem Coskunseven. With layers of loops, drones, and samples, these works explore the limits and possibilities of the saxophone quartet augmented by electronics. Integrating baroque chord progressions, Coskunseven’s Radical Songs (2023) develops intricate rhythmic patterns that make reference to the language of advanced pop music. Dougherty’s into the blessed darkness (2023)—a work inspired by Natalka Bilotserkivets’s poem The Saxophonist— draws connections between the saxophone quartet and the machine, transforming the ensemble’s sound into walls of pulsating noise and distortion built from the saxophone’s sonic extremes.

Program

William Dougherty: into the blessed darkness (2023)for saxophone quartet and electronics (40’)

Didem Coskunseven: Radical Songs (2023)for saxophone quartet and electronics (45’)

• Song for Homecoming
• Song for the Problem
• Song for the Solution
• Song to leave the Town

Biographies

KONUS QUARTETT | VIER SAXOPHONE

For 20 years, the four saxophonists have been working with a precise, minimalist sound in the field of the most recent contemporary and experimental music. Working closely with composers, the ensemble is committed to the creation and development of new works. The Konus Quartett regularly commissions compositions and has worked with and performed works by Chiyoko Szlavnics, Jürg Frey, Klaus Lang, Phill Niblock, Barry Guy, Martin Brandlmayr, Tomas Korber, and others. Consistently orienting its program towards the present, the ensemble is now one of the leading voices in contemporary music, well beyond Switzerland and Europe. It has performed at London’s Cafe OTO, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Musikprotokoll Graz and FIMAV (Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville) in Canada, and has released numerous recordings.

Composers:

William Dougherty 

William (Bill) Dougherty is a composer, sound artist, and currently the Rieman and Baketel Fellow for Music at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. He earned his DMA in music composition in 2021 from Columbia University. His music invites listeners to engage with the “inner life” of sounds. Drawing from early recording technology, his work often explores elements of decay, distortion, and erasure. His music has been presented at festivals including IRCAM's ManiFeste, Klangspuren, musikprotokoll, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Donaueschingen Musiktage, and the New York Philharmonic Biennale. In 2021, he was recipient of the Luciano Berio Rome Prize in Music Composition from the American Academy in Rome. He served as an Early Career Fellow at Columbia University in 2021-22, where he taught courses in music composition, music theory, and music technology.

Didem Coskunseven 

Didem Coskunseven (Turkey, born 1985) is a composer, sound artist, and electronic musician based in Paris. Didem’s works include compositions for ensembles, electronic music, installations and stage productions. She performs as an electronic musician and improviser and collaborates with dancers, choreographers and video artists. Her work has been presented at festivals throughout Europe, Turkey, and the United States. Didem studied visual arts, philosophy, and music composition in Istanbul. She currently works at IRCAM Paris and is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Music at the University of California at Berkeley.

Musicians:

Fabio Oehrli completed his classical saxophone studies with Christian Roellinger and Marcus Weiss. He studied with Urs Peter Schneider, specialising in composition, arrangement, and new music. In 2001, Fabio Oehrli completed his second degree as a sound engineer, and today he runs his studio Tonlabor in Bern alongside his work as a saxophonist for contemporary music. Since 2018 he has served on the board of the PAKT association, a network for new and experimental music in Bern.

In addition to his many activities as an improvising and interpreting saxophonist, Christian Kobi is a lecturer in improvised music at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB). He plays in various formations and develops performances for saxophone solo, which he has presented at international concert series andfestivals. In 2003 he founded the "zoom in" festival for improvised music in Bern and serves as its artistic director. Christian Kobi was honored with the Music Prize of the Canton of Bern in 2018.

Jonas Tschanz performs internationally in various formations and his concert activities have taken him all over Europe, and to China, Georgia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, and the United States. He has performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Camerata Schweiz and the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra. Jonas is an accredited member of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. He has received numerous awards and honours and is an ambassador for the instrument manufacturer Henri Selmer Paris. Since 2019 he has been teaching saxophone at the Conservatoire de Fribourg.

Stefan Rolli completed his teaching diploma at the Bern University of the Arts with Christian Roellinger and his concert diploma (with distinction) with Marcus Weiss at the Basel Music Academy. Stefan attended masterclasses with Arno Bornkamp and Eugène Rousseau as well as courses in free improvisation with Walter Fähndrich. The focus of his artistic work is on new and contemporary music. He teaches at several music schools in Switzerland. In 2006 he was honoured with the Cultural Promotion Prize of the city of Thun.

Sound Examples:

William Dougherty – Into the blessed darkness

Youtube:  

Didem Coskunseven – Radical Songs

Swiss radio SRF2 recording live from the premiere (streaming only):

Host or Publisher Institute for Ideas and Imagination