Tuerkis
Gabriele Proy
2011-2012
Artist Statement
I wrote my composition “Tuerkis” for flute and guitar in memory of those who died in the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan in March 2011. “The question lingers in the expanse of the landscape. Quakes, walls of water, waves like mountains, mud. Wanting to stop the sudden, wanting to forget the sudden, needing to understand too suddenly. Everything is too sudden. Learning to go, learning to understand in the midst of an inexorable fate. In between. The sea reflects turquoise. The distant sound of the flutes is reminiscent of the sound of the shakuhachi, the crescendo of the guitar arpeggios of the powerful sounds of the Shamisen in the North of Japan.” The World Premiere took place in 2012 by Ulrike Anton and Armin Egger at the Salvatorsaal Vienna. In 2015 the Japan Premiere took place at the University of the Arts in Tokyo by Ulrike Anton and Armin Egger. Composition "Tuerkis" by Gabriele Proy, recorded in 2012 by Georg Burdicek at Salvatorsaal Vienna, Ulrike Anton (flute), Armin Egger (guitar).
To my point of view sonic remembrance may bridge Japanese and Western ways of listening and concepts of soundscapes. Regarding my many guest lectures and concerts in Japan in the past I will be very happy to emphasize cultural exchange between Japan and Austria in the near future again. In my music compositions there are lots of references to Japan, like my piano quartet “Sasakia charonda”, my piano composition “Kigen” and my choir work “Kokoro”. Due to my concert invitations to Japan, I’ve studied the Japanese language. I’m looking forward to giving music composition workshops and concerts in Yamagata and Tokyo again.
Artist Bio
Vienna-born Gabriele Proy is one of Austria’s best-known contemporary composers. In 2013 she received the Music Award of the City of Vienna, the city’s highest honour for music. From 2001 until 2013 she was the President of the European Forum Klanglandschaft. Her award-winning compositions for choir, orchestra and chamber music have been performed by distinguished orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic Choir, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein Orchestra, the Minsk Philharmonic Orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra and members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Europe, Belarus, China, Iran, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, Ukraine, Canada, South America, USA and Australia.