Leseprobe "Gegenwärtig! 100 Jahre neue Musik - Die Donaueschinger Musiktage

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Two years later, on a spring morning, I stood in the laneway outside my
house in Ireland, waiting for Armin and his colleague Bernd Künzig to
arrive. They’d caught a plane to Dublin, a train to Carrick-on-Shannon,
and were now on their way to my house in a taxi. The weather was
co-operating, for once, and they arrived thrilled at being literally in
the middle of nowhere in the Irish countryside. They’d come to see the
archive of my visual work, because part of it would be included in the
following year’s festival. I told them my sister and brother-in-law had
offered to give us all lunch at their farm up the road. They had a baby,
and also cats. Did that sound ok? »It sounds great!« said Bernd. »I love
cats! And Armin loves babies!« Armin did indeed dote on my little
nephew, and dandled him upon his knee. It’s a beautiful thing, when
your professional and personal lives collapse briefly and comfortably
into one another.
The following year, I went again to Donaueschingen, to install exhibitions
of my visual work, and to perform a new piece, THE TOTAL
MOUNTAIN. The performances went excellently, the audiences responded
very well, but something was missing. Armin was very ill, and
he couldn’t attend. A month later, very sadly, Armin passed away.
In 2018, I went into hospital in London for a medical procedure. I would
be put under general anesthetic, and I was a bit nervous. The consultant
surgeon came to talk to me before the surgery. This was the
NHS, so it was the first, and most likely last time I’d ever talk to the
surgeon, unless something went wrong. The surgeon was German. As
she examined me, we made small talk. What do you do, she asked. I’m
a composer. What sort of music. Oh, Neue Musik. Experimental, sometimes
with film. Was my music ever performed at Donaueschingen, she
asked. Yes! I said, completely shocked. Had she been there? I asked.
Yes, she replied. Many times, my husband and I like to go to the festival.
After the examination, I texted a family member that the surgeon
who would be doing the procedure had been to Donaueschingen.
»Wow!! That’s a GOOD OMEN!!!« they texted back. And I thought how
much the story would have delighted Armin, that the festival that had
helped launch my career, that helped form who I am as a composer,
might also bring me luck.