KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 27 – The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, kicking off the inaugural Reimagine Music Festival that will take place tonight at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas here in KLCC.
Straight out of its Hong Kong tour, the German orchestra will be presenting its best repertoire to make a good first impression for audiences in Kuala Lumpur before moving on to Penang tomorrow.
So far, the city has appeared to have charmed the orchestra’s general manager and artistic director Markus Korselt.
“I visited the Batu Caves and was really impressed – it was incredibly hot and there were so many steps but totally worth it.
“Then, we had an amazing Malaysian dinner last night, I could eat that every evening,” he told Malay Mail.
Tonight on the classical music menu, Korselt’s orchestra will be serving up one of their most beloved pieces this evening, the Holberg Suite by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg.
“It’s a piece we play 10 to 15 times a year and for the past 75 years so this is really our core repertoire,” Korselt said.
Joined by sought-after soloists violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley and cellist Trey Lee, the general manager was optimistic that tonight’s concert was going to be fantastic.
“We are very proud to be the first act of this new festival, it’s important because the first concert has to be good to set the tone.
“The audience in Malaysia will hear some of the most beautiful pieces written for chamber orchestra,” he added.
It’s also the orchestra’s first time in Kuala Lumpur since its last concert 15 years ago.
Just shy of 75 years old, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1945 after the Second World War and is the oldest chamber orchestra in the world.
Today, it is the best chamber orchestra in Germany and one of the best in the world.
“What sets us apart from other chamber orchestras out there is our musicians work together for their lifetime so we get a really intense understanding of each other,” said Korselt who is originally from Munich.
As a result, they work more like a string quartet instead of an orchestra.
“In chamber music, you have to react very spontaneously and the orchestra is really young at the moment because we had a whole change of generation recently so they are at the top of their abilities physically and technically,” he explained.
There are 17 permanent members from nine nationalities and almost all of them are performing at the DFP tonight.
With a vast repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to contemporary music, the musicians are well-trained and as one suspects, auditions are extremely competitive.
“I feel so sorry for them. If you come from China and you play like the devil but you get second place, you have nothing at the end.
“It’s really hard but it’s good for the orchestra because you can choose the best,” Korselt said.
The quality of the orchestra is such that it allows them to play most of their concerts without a conductor, a privilege rarely enjoyed by big orchestras.
Since assuming the position of general manager two years ago, Korselt said the orchestra has doubled its number of concerts and tour dates, performing close to 100 concerts and three intercontinental tours a year.
Part of its strategy to modernise classical music comes in the form of digital projects that comprise of virtual reality, music games and artificial intelligence (AI).
Working with an industry partner, they have since developed an algorithm that is used to train an AI to produce music pieces.
At the moment, the programme is being trained to write music in the style of Bach.
It’s been successful so far in the sense you have to listen to the music twice to determine if the piece was composed by Bach or the AI.
“The main target is to see if the algorithms know about how to produce music in the style of Bach or Mozart later on or whoever.
“What will happen if we just them run free? That’s the project and then we will play the music on stage,” said Korselt.
Musicians were assured the project wasn’t an exercise to replace them but rather how AI could serve as a new instrument as a means of developing new expressions for classical music much in the way Mozart and other classical great welcomed new instruments.
Korselt said the musicians in the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra enjoy travelling for work but if there was one challenge, it would be leaving their families behind.
“We have a lot of young women in the orchestra so sometimes it’s hard for them to leave their family in Germany if they have young kids,” he said.
But there are also those who are glad to get away from their family routine.
“They love eating good food, making new memories and enjoy nice cities like KL, there’s so much energy in this city,” said Korselt.
Reimagine Music Festival is presented by OSEL Group and The Asquire, co-organised by DFP and the Centre for Research, Advisory and Technology (CREATE) and supported by Malaysia Airlines, GMBB and the National Building Institute (NBI).
The festival takes place in Kuala Lumpur on November 27 at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas and heads to Penang on November 29 at the Majestic Theatre in Georgetown.
Malay Mail is the official media partner for the festival.
For full details, visit reimaginemusicfestival.com.
