During her stay she will work together with South African musicians and composers, will run a work shop at Wits University and will showcase her work at the New Music Indaba in Bloemfontein. Charlotte Seither´s residency is the prologue to create a piece of music about her stay in Johannesburg and South Africa.
Charlotte Seither, 2012
© Marko Bussmann
Charlotte Seither (* 1965 in Landau/Germany). As the first German composer she was granted with the 1st Prize in the International Composition Contest Prague Spring. In 2009 she awarded the Rome Prize of the German Academy Villa Massimo and lived and worked for one year in the Italian capital. In 1998 she received the degree of a Doctor of Philosophy and is a frequently asked jury-member of international competitions and committees. She has been a guest at many international festivals like Generations Festival Warschau, Gaudeamus Amsterdam, Grame Lyon, Wien Modern or IFWM Seoul. She received many honours and prizes, e.g. the 1st Prize in the International Composition Contest Ciutat de Palma / Spain(2004) or the Foerderpreis of the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung. As Artist in Residence she lived and worked in the Cité des Arts Paris (1999), in the Academy Solitude Castle Stuttgart (1995), in the Palazzo Barbarigo Venice (1993), at Civitella Ranieri / Italy and in the Villa Aurora Los Angeles (2000). In 2010 she was awarded with the Praetorius Musikpreis for Composition. In August 2013 her orchestra piece Language of Leaving (2012/13) had its World Premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra London and the BBC Singers at the BBC Proms and was broadcast live from Royal Albert Hall.
Charlotte Seither about her upcoming Residency:
What do you expect from your time in South Africa?
I really feel very curious to visit the country for the first time! During the last years I met some authors and visual artists from South Africa, so I learned a lot about their art. Especially as a musician I am very keen to get in contact with the (native) vocal music culture in (South) Africa. Because music for voice is very important for me, I want to see how people handle their voice and how the languages sound, if you listen to them with the ear of a composer with the outer view. I want to listen, what sounds the country will bring towards my ears.
AND: It is a great pleasure to meet people, to get in contact with institutions and other artist and to enjoy the encounters.
Is there a special idea you want to work on?
During my time in South Africa it is more important for me to listen than to produce. I want to collect material and see what will happen with it when I am back in Germany. It will stay open for me, if the commission pieces which I have to do after my journey will be influenced by it, or in which way this may happen. I do not care for that at the moment. Our unconsciousness in incredible large and powerfull and not foreseeable. I just want to "celebrate the life" during my time, regarding and listening to the things.
Schedule
Charlotte Seither will be hosted at the Sylt Foundation in Johannesburg from 8.-27. July
21st of July WITS University Johannesburg
Guest Seminary and Masterclass (Organisation: Andile Khumalo)
23rd of July Bloemfontein / New Music Indaba 2015
Chamber Concert I (17h)
includes: Dreizehn Verwehungen (2012)
for voice solo (11 Min.)
Douglas Scott, voice
24th of July Chamber Concert II (17h)
includes: Seul avec des ombres (2011)
for flute solo (5 Min.)
Liesl Stoltz, flute
Firnis III (2010) (7 Min.)
for two flutes
Liesl Stoltz, Bongile Leconge-Zulu, flutes
25th of July Concert III (17h)
includes: one more piece of chamber music
Chamber Concert IV / Odeion Camarata (19h)
includes: Far from distance (2008)
for clarinet, violoncello and piano (11 Min.)
Morné van Heerden, Klarinette, Marguerite Spies, violoncello,
Kathleen Tagg, piano
