From Frankfurt am Main to Bulgaria

On October 14, 2023, the Ensemble Modern presents two events on one day at its headquarters on Schwedlerstraße. At 5 pm, a panel discussion will be dedicated to the organization of new music, its forms and its many connections with Frankfurt am Main. Panellists include Norbert Abels, the former chief dramaturge of the Frankfurt Opera, who will give a lecture on ›Happy New Ears at 30‹, Kristina Hasenflug, managing director of the Deutsche Bank Foundation, Julia Cloot (Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain), Sascha Wild (Musikreferent der Stadt Frankfurt) and Ensemble Modern’s flutist and founding member Dietmar Wiesner. The panel discussion commemorates the 20th birthday of Frankfurt’s New Music Society as well as the centenary of the International New Music Society (IGNM), which is active worldwide.

At 8 pm, the Ensemble Modern focuses on Bulgaria in the latest iteration of its concert series ›Checkpoint‹. The featured guest is the Bulgarian folk singer Neli Andreeva. She learned her first songs from her mother and grandmother before attending the National Music School of Folk Instruments and Vocal Arts in Shiroka Laka in Southern Bulgaria. For many years, she was a soloist in the National Folklore Ensemble ›Philip Kutev‹. Her song ›Malka Moma‹ (Little Girl) has been viewed on YouTube more than one million times. Sava Stoianov, Ensemble Modern’s trumpet player, established this contact: »Bulgaria has a very rich musical tradition; its music has extremely complex rhythms and beautiful ornamentations. I am delighted that Bulgarian national song and our musical world will meet, and that we are developing a joint evening with Neli Andreeva. She has a magical voice.« As the director of the vocal studio ›Nusha‹, founded in Sofia in 2013, a chorus consisting of women aged 16 to 24, Neli Andreeva also promotes the preservation and dissemination of Bulgarian vocal traditions.