The ULYSSES network supports several emerging European ensembles, programming concerts where a new repertoire is promoted, thanks to commissions and reruns. Ensemble KOMPOPOLEX is a trio based in Wrocław (Poland) specialising in new music. They perform pieces that are engaged and engaging, often leaving their instruments in favour of cables, keyboards, dance or singing. The group consists of Aleksandra Gołaj (percussion), Rafał Łuc (accordion) and Jacek Sotomski (computers).

Ensemble Kompopolex presents a very peculiar concert at this year’s Festival Mixtur that moves from music to performance in continuous hybridization. To open and close the programme, they bring together two pieces by the legendary minimalist and experimental composer, La Monte Young, framing the concert in a different and original way. Some of La Monte Young’s sometimes indeterminate works, with few sounds or even text-only “scores”, have caused them to be classified as conceptual music. In contrast, Kompopolex also presents two very recent works from its country of origin. Body X Ultra by Marta Śniady, problematizes the beautification and improvement of the human body with the help of technology. Breathe by Rafał Ryterski deals with some social movements and political demands, which took place in 2020, giving a breath with its presence in the public space and in society as a whole.

Let’s change geography now, to northern Europe (specifically Norway), with Memory Box #2 by Martin A. Hirsti-Kvam. As the title suggests, this piece emerges from a box full of everyday objects and sounds that come to life with transducers, projections and choreographed movements.

Last, renowned Irish composer Jennifer Walshe, with a work EVERYTHING YOU HAVE HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A DEPOSIT SOMEWHERE, will focus on the performative aspect and the use of different objects in the performance. A piece that perfectly characterizes the original proposal of the Ensemble Kompopolex in this concert.

DATE AND PLACE

14 October 2023, Nau Bostik, Barcelona

PROGRAMME

La Monte Young (US): Composition #10 (1960) –

Marta Śniady (PL): Body X Ultra (2023) – 7’

Martin A. Hirsti-Kvam (NO): New piece (2023) – 11′

Jennifer Walshe (IE): EVERYTHING YOU OWN HAS BEEN TAKEN TO A DEPOT SOMEWHERE (2013) – 11’

Rafał Ryterski (PO): Breathe (2021)  – 13’

La Monte Young (US): Composition #13 (1960)  – 10’’