19th to 22nd March 2009

"The sound comes out of silence"

A Weekend with the Composer Toshio Hosokawa:
Between Western Avant-garde and Japanese Tradition

Toshio Hosokawa, born 1955 in Hiroshima, went to Germany to study when he was just 21. There he met his most influential teachers, Isang Yun in Berlin and Klaus Huber in Freiburg, with whom he studied composition. Ironically it was at this point, far from his homeland, that he was encouraged by Klaus Huber to focus on the traditional music of Japan
Through this focus on Japanese traditions, Hosokawa developed a style that distinguishes his work even now; a balancing act between Western avant-garde and traditional Japanese music. The interaction between the cultures is audible in his work, as is the search for relationships, traditions and unmistakable identity.
Hosokawa once said about his music: "I am searching for a new music, an adventure, but not in the sense of assimilation. I am searching for a new form of spiritual culture and music of the Japanese people with which I can stay true, not only to myself, but also to my heritage. We must once again study the West more thoroughly in order to objectify our view of ourselves, and to truly become familiar with ourselves."
Hosokawa’s turn to Japanese culture caused him to focus more on natural phenomena that he experienced in his homeland. Nature is often the central focus of his work with its varying sounds and creations, and above all, its transience.
"Transience is beautiful," says Hosokawa, who rewrites his musical language as an analogy of the Buddhist belief that life and death are equal. "The sound comes out of silence; it lives, it retreats back into silence." Today, Hosokawa writes works for orchestra and ensembles, and chamber music for modern as well as traditional Japanese instruments.
The concerts of the Biennale will include orchestral and ensemble works with modern instruments as well as works for traditional Japanese instruments such as the koto (a zither instrument) and the shô (a wooden mouthorgan), and works for gagaku-ensembles (music of the Japanese emperor’s court).
In addition, a theatrical production will be included in the program. For this, soloists from Japan and Europe are expected, as well as the Mozarteum Orchestra or the Österreichische Ensemble für Neue Musik (Austrian Ensemble for Contemporary Music).
The weekend with Toshio Hosokawa is a co-production of the Salzburg Biennale with the festival "Dialoge" of the Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg.