Mikrophonie I, an evening-length work by Karlheinz Stockhausen composed in 1964, is one of the “classics” of twentieth-century avant-garde music in our repertoire. Due to its pioneering and groundbreaking concept, it also serves as a gateway to our ensemble’s aesthetic and curatorial approach.

“Normally inaudible vibrations are made audible by an active process of sound detection (comparable to the auscultation of a body by a physician); the microphone is used actively as a musical instrument, in contrast to its former passive function of reproducing sounds as faithfully as possible.”
(Karlheinz Stockhausen)

In the performance, two percussionists produce a wide range of sounds using different objects on a large-scale tam-tam, while two further performers explore resonances and employ a microphone to amplify these sounds. The resulting signal is then processed by two musicians seated at a desk within the audience, who shape the sound using band-pass filters and distribute it spatially.

Following Stockhausen’s idea of sound examination, we began this project by constructing our own tam-tam specifically for this purpose. We then digitally reconstructed the historic band-pass filters as well as the fader interfaces, in order to achieve maximum control over the virtuosic and highly detailed electronic score. Finally, we searched for distinctive acoustic environments that could provide the most immersive setting for experiencing the piece. This process culminated in the premiere of our version of Mikrophonie I in a former submarine base, on a floating platform at sea, on the mediteranean island of Vis, Croatia.