Entangled photons, Linz organs, the bells of Notre Dame, a melting glacier and, of course, Anton Bruckner – the opening of Ars Electronica takes place in St. Mary’s Cathedral and promises to be an unusual evening.
This year, the official opening of the Ars Electronica Festival (see Pre-Opening Walk) pays tribute to a composer and organist who would have celebrated his 200th birthday on September 4: Anton Bruckner. The event starts at 8 pm and takes place at the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz. Â
Free admission! Participation in the Opening on September 4, 2024, is free.
The event starts at 10 pm with the organ concert “BruQner – The Sound of Entanglement”. Two church organs will play Anton Bruckner’s “Perger Präludium”, with entangled photons taking on the role of conductor. Lasers, mirrors, polarizers, non-linear crystals – an experimental set-up from the high-tech laboratory in the middle of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Linz, developed and set up by a team of artists, organists, computer scientists and physicists makes this possible.Â
At 11 pm, the 12-piece ensemble “NoFive” then performs “Bruckner x Pop x No Wave”. Bruckner’s Fifth fuses with the iconic “Seven Nation Army” riff by the White Stripes, is shaken and stirred in Glenn Branca style and forms an avant-garde soundscape somewhere between high and pop culture.
At 11.30 pm, the stage belongs to the chamber musicians of the Bruckner Orchestra Linz. They will play Anton Bruckner’s arrangement of Symphony No. 7 WAB 107 in E major (1883/85) for ensemble (“Schönberg version”) by Hanns Eisler (1898-1962, 1st & 3rd movement), Erwin Stein (1885-1958, 2nd movement) and Karl Rankl (1898-1968, 4th movement).
At midnight sharp (and until 4 o’clock in the morning), Bill Fontana’s Silent Echoes finally resound. Using vibration sensors, the US sound artist makes the bells of Notre Dame audible, transmits their sounds into the ice caves of the Dachstein and lets them resound there as if in a duet with the sounds of the melting glacier. This site-specific duet in turn forms the basis for “sound bridges” to various places in Europe, including the Mariendom in Linz. “Silent Echoes” will be premiered on September 3, 2024 as part of the European Capital of Culture 2024 at the Goiserer Musiktage in the ice cave.
