—Karlheinz Stockhausen
Stockhausen was indeed a musical seer. At every point in his varied musical life, from Kreuzspiel and Gesung der Jünglinge to Licht and Klang, Stockhausen lifted the veil on new musical worlds—worlds that other musicians, artists, and thinkers continue to explore after him.
He was confident that our experience and understanding of his music was important to our spiritual growth. Even more, he was certain that his music was going to be more useful with the passage of time and worked to make sure his work could be realized by whatever musical forces and circumstances the next millennia might bring. With his later opera, LICHT, Stockhausen was working to provide humanity with a new mythology that would help us greet a new era. Stockhausen has already exerted powerful influence on music in the past half-century. It’s intriguing to imagine that his most powerful influence is yet to come.
--Heather Barringer
Zeitgeist's Early Music Festival: Stockhausen
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
$10 Thursday, Friday and Sunday
$20 Saturday (includes one or both performances plus wine and hors d'oeuvres)
Tickets & Schedule
Zeitgeist’s 5th Annual Early Music Festival explores the powerful contributions of our musical pioneers with a celebration of composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. One of the 20th century’s great visionaries, Stockhausen’s groundbreaking work in electronic and spatial music embraced new artistic possibilities and made a lasting impact on avant garde and popular music alike. From the Beatles to Björk, Stockhausen's music has influenced musicians of all stripes and continues shape new music today.
As a group of musicians dedicated to the music of our time, Zeitgeist knows the most meaningful expressions of today are informed by the musical contributions of yesterday. The annual Early Music Festival honors that artistic debt with performances of influential and rarely-heard works by 20th century masters.