Namphaise is an audiovisual performance for chamber ensemble, video and light. Its nucleus is a new work by the Greek composer Zesses Seglias, thematic elements of which are taken up by the ensemble to construct improvisational moments, in which elements of a storyline shine through. This narrative thread is given by the myth of Namphaise, a scarcely known medieval saint, who seeks liberation from earthly contamination but is again and again confronted with the dark, animal sides of human existence, even beyond his death. While the storyline remains faintly intelligible, the harsh and sometimes grotesque images of Namphaise’s adventures inspire an approximately 50 minutes long abstract multimedia performance, that includes video, light and Seglias’s new composition.

instrumentation

• flute
• clarinet
• saxophone
• percussion
• keayboard
• violin
• violoncello
• double bass
• electronics

music

The musical material used for the composed piece bears a lot in common with the one used for the improvised parts. The main difference between the two is that the linear process of the improvised parts is replaced by a state of motionlessness, a cosmos rotating around itself, sonic objects that stand without leading anywhere, suspended between the emotional extremes to whose attractive forces every human being is subjected. The improvised parts are shaped by the composer and correspond to the three stages of the cyclical pattern. The ensemble will be given sound material and a formal concept by the composer which it then forges into three improvisations. The use of spatialized electronic composition (Davide Gagliardi) and a mobile distribution of musicians and audience in the hall is essential in order to create an encompassing space of experience.

visual

Throughout the improvised parts, video and lights Patrik Lechner melt with music into a audiovisual piece of art that is perceived by the attendant as encompassing unity. Images of natural, architectonic and sculptural objects related topographically or semantically to the myth are distorted, amplified and combined with digitally generated footage into a flowing sequence of both concrete and abstract images orbiting around the archetypical forces engaged. A precise light-dramaturgy directs attention and draws the public further into the perception of sound and image.