The MuTh
Am Augartenspitz 1, 1020 Vienna
Thomas Wally, Florian Drexler, STUDIO DAN
Being Karl Dieter
Staged concert analysis of unheard-of music
In his Ö1 programme New music on the couch tornThomas Wally breaks down works into their individual parts, makes structures audible and opens the view to the form. For Studio Dan he composed BEING KARL DIETER, a stage adaptation of his work Composed Analysis. Music that does not exist. Wally looks at a composition on stage, which only becomes real through his analysis. The audience becomes a witness to a creative process, an inner dialogue, a fascinating journey into the mind of a real, fictitious composers.
Literary references by Thomas Mann, Haruki Murakami and Virginia Woolf are also included.
Thomas Wally's approach to analysis
The composer Thomas Wally describes music analysis as an insight-driven shift between admiration, shrugging of the shoulders and aversion. At the centre is the fundamental question: "When does what begin, when does what end?" (Paavo Heininen). The confrontation with foreign intellectual worlds - the how and why of sound - inevitably leads to self-reflection: "Would I do it the same way?" Music analysis thus serves to constantly expand one's own horizons and repertoire. Ideally, it enhances the magic of music precisely by seemingly demystifying it.
A production by Studio Dan in co-operation with MuTh, Musiktheatertage Wien and Klangspuren Schwaz.
ZERO
Credits
Thomas Frey, flute
Theresa Dinkhauser, clarinet
Matthew Smith, bassoon
Clemens Salesny, saxophone
Damaris Richerts, trumpet
Till Künkler, trombone
Raphael Meinhart, percussion
Michael Tiefenbacher, piano
Alyona, Pynzenyk, violin
Flora Geißelbrecht, Viola
Maiken Beer, violoncello
Manuel Mayr, double bass
Thomas Wally, Spokesman
Xizi Wang, Conducting
Werner Angerer, sound direction
Jan Maria Lukas, lighting director
Florian Drexler, Director
Photo: Ronja Elina Kappl
A composition commission by Studio Dan, with the kind support of the bmkoes and the SKE Fund
Bios
THOMAS WALLY (*1981)
Thomas Wally is an Austrian composer, violinist and senior lecturer for applied compositional theory, ear training and analysis at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His works have been performed in Europe, New York, Canada, Argentina, Iran, Hong Kong and Tokyo by orchestras and ensembles such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy Symphony Orchestra Hong Kong, Klangforum Wien, PHACE, OENM, Mondrian Ensemble, Ensemble risonanze erranti, Ensemble mise-en, Ensemble Zeitfluss, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, ensemble LUX, Ensemble Platypus, Ensemble Reconsil, Ensemble Wiener Collage, Hugo Wolf-Quartett, the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band, Studio for New Music Ensemble Moscow, Trio Frühstück, Webern Symphonie Orchester, the Wiener Concert-Verein and the Zalodek Ensemble.
His works have often been broadcast on radio, including Ö1, Kulturradio RBB, WDR3, SWR2, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, SRF, France Musique and NHK (Japan). Thomas Wally has received numerous prizes/scholarships for his compositional work, including the State Scholarship for Composition (2009, 2012, 2018), the Helmut Sohmen Composition Prize 2009, the outstanding artist award 2010 and the Promotion Prize of the City of Vienna 2012. loop fantasy for orchestra won 2nd prize in the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award, in 2016 he received a Theodor Körner Sponsorship Award for Caprice (VII) ultrajaune and the Prize of the City of Vienna. For the piano cycle cycle: 25 easy pieces (2014-2016), he was awarded the Ernst Krenek Prize of the City of Vienna in 2020. In the same year, a portrait CD was released by col legno, recorded by the Mondrian Ensemble at the Radiokulturhaus Wien.
As a violinist, Thomas Wally has been active in the contemporary music scene (including as a violinist with ensemble LUX), as a substitute with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002 and with the Vienna State Opera since 2001. Since October 2021, Thomas Wally has been analysing a string quartet from the last hundred years once a month in the series "New Music on the Couch" on Ö1 (Zeit-Ton).
Thomas Wally completed his composition studies with Dietmar Schermann, Erich Urbanner and Chaya Czernowin and his violin concert studies with Josef Hell at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In 2005/06 he studied composition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki with Paavo Heininen.
FLORIAN DREXLER (*1984)
https://www.floriandrexler.com/
Jazz saxophone studies at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna. Studied theatre, film and media studies at the University of Vienna; then at the Elfriede Ott Acting Academy. Along the way, roles in cinema, television and theatre. 2011 Foundation and head of the artist collective "playground". Engagements as a freelance actor and director at WUK Vienna, 3Raum-Anatomie-Theater Vienna, Brunnenpassage Vienna, MQ Vienna, Arena Vienna, Palais Kabelwerk Vienna, Ragnarhof Vienna, F23 Vienna, OFF Theater Vienna, Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt, Stuedltenn Zillertal, Viertelfestival NÖ, Hin und Weg Theaterfestival, Sommerfestspiele Maria Enzersdrof, t'eig Graz, dramagraz, Literaturhaus Graz, TIK Berlin, among others.
2019 Director and libretto of the opera aKTION nILPFERD at Stadtsaal Hollabrunn and Festspielhaus St.Pölten, 2024 Director of the opera "Hamed und Sherifa" at Musiktheater an der Wien.
Theatre performances for young audiences at numerous kindergartens and primary schools in Vienna and Lower Austria. Theatre pedagogical work at BRG Linz Hamerlingstraße, Projektschule Graz, MS Hollabrunn, MOKIWE Brunn am Gebirge, SFU Vienna, VinciRast, PlayTogetherNow, etc. 2018 Foundation and artistic direction of the youth theatre group MurxMaschine in Mödling. Psychotherapeutic propaedeutic course at the ÖAGG in Vienna. Lives and works as a freelance actor, director, author, theatre educator, musician and performer in Vienna.
STUDIO DAN
Studio Dan has developed into an artistic production community and has been commissioning young composers, text writers and dramaturges for over 15 years. The collective's work ranges from standard premiere concerts, including commissioned compositions, to music theatre and performance formats, to installations and interactive interventions. Its partners include younger artists such as Oxana Omelchuk, Christian F. Schiller, Karolina Preuschl, Eva-Maria Schaller, Matthias Kranebitter, Thomas Wally and Christof Ressi as well as established names such as George Lewis, Vinko Globokar, Elliott Sharp, Michel Doneda, Elisabeth Harnik, Friedrich Cerha and Jalalu Kalvert-Nelson. Studio Dan works as a co-producer with major institutions such as Wien Modern, KinderKinder/Big Bang, La Strada Graz and Dschungel Wien. The ensemble is a regular guest at ORF musikprotokoll at steirischer herbst, Klangspuren Schwaz and can be heard at venues such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the Kulturfabrik Kampnagel in Hamburg, the Kimmel Center Philadelphia and the legendary Roulette in Brooklyn (New York).
Breaking News was released in 2020 on the Swiss label Hat Hut Records.
The debut CD Creatures & other stuff was honoured with the German Record Critics' Award (Best List); Planet Globokar was nominated for the YAM Award in 2017; Studio Dan's debut recording of George Lewis' As We May Feel was named one of the "25 Best Classical Music Tracks" by the New York Times in 2020.