the island remained silent

Media score

Written for the Parasite Village, Future Traditions Orchestra, Dresden, April 2023.

the island remained silent is a media score, an interactive and generative score written in java (on the Processing platform). The score is generated by audio input from the musicians. The form of the piece is a song cycle, where the auto-generated melodies are not sung but played by an ensemble. It is based on eight texts about a narrator’s first encounter with an island - text by Jean Girardoux, Daniel Defoe, Lucien of Samosata, William Golding, JG Ballard amongst others. It was originally composed for a special ensemble of 19 musicians, The Future Tradition Orchestra, comprising mostly of non-western instruments. The piece utilises a freedom in how these different traditions could interpret and ornament these generated melodies.

Excerpt from the island remained silent score

Premiere performance in Hellerau Dresden, 29.04.23 performed by:

  • Bassem Alkhouri: kanun
  • Matthew Bookert: trombone
  • Keyvan Chemirani: percussion, tonbak
  • Muhammed Muaz Ceyhan: yaylı tambur
  • Susanne Fröhlich: flutes, recorder
  • Naoko Kikuchi: koto
  • Emil Kuyumcuyan: percussion
  • Yannis Kyriakides: electronics
  • Sofiya Levchenko: violin
  • Neva Özgen Kösoğlu: kemençe
  • Ulrich Mertin: viola
  • Cham Saloum: oud
  • Cymin Samawatie: piano, voice
  • Ralf Schwarz: double bass
  • Ken Ueno: voice
  • Ravshan Tukhtamishev: chang
  • Milian Vogel: saxophone
  • Iñigo Giner Miranda: concert staging
  • Elisa Erkelenz: curation and dramaturgy