Stacie Dunlop, soprano, and Andrea Neumann, violin take the stage at Langley Community Music School’s next Concerts Café Classico on Sunday, April 13 to present the provocative and powerful work, Kafka Fragments.
Pre-concert coffee and commentary held by LCMS artistic director of concerts Elizabeth Bergmann is at 3 p.m. followed by the concert at 4 p.m.
“I bought the score for Kafka Fragments many years back, and put them away knowing that one day, with the right person, I would learn to perform these,” said Dunlop.
“I knew this would be the perfect project for us as soon as I met Andrea. It’s a definite love/hate relationship working on this piece.
“I love the virtuosity, the poetry, the microscopic intensity needed to dissect the work, and the same intensity to put it back together again — but it’s also these things that make it such a challenging work.
“It’s been worth the many hours of practice that has been put into bringing this pretty amazing work to life.”
Kafka Fragments by Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag is a set of 40 miniatures that were inspired by the diaries, letters and notebooks of Franz Kafka.
“It’s a very special work, there’s nothing quite like it in the repertoire for either voice or violin,” adds Dunlop. “Contemporary music can be complex, challenging, boundary- and sometimes back-breaking.
“It’s amazing to be the performer of a new work and to bring to life notes on the page for the first time, or in the case of Kafka Fragments, to bring an old work that has never been heard before to many communities – it’s a must see for local audiences.
“The piece is challenging to perform. Mostly because of the mental endurance needed to perform a work that is almost 70 minutes long with no breaks,” said Dunlop.
“It is also physically virtuosic for the voice and violin, rhythmically complex, and it is dramatically challenging to get the mood just right.
“This came more easily, as Andrea and I have fairly good communication as performers, and also the poetry dictates a certain vibe.”
Tickets are $15 adults, $13 seniors and $10 students. Call 604-534-2848 or visit www.langleymusic.com to purchase tickets online. The Rose Gellert Hall is at 4899 207 St. in Langley.