All members of the European Music Project (EMP) ensemble are soloists with vast experience in classical ensemble performances along with improvisation and experimental styles. The EMP is synonymous with innovative programme concepts, elaborate presentation techniques and a philosophy of engaging with a wide variety of audiences. Many of its projects are developed in collaboration with artists from the fields of dance, visualarts and literature. EMP draws parallels – between classical modernism and the present day, between chamber music and club sounds. Its music is set against the backdrop of a world in a state of flux and the ensuing cultural and social challenges. EMP experiments with different spatial, sound and performance concepts, threading the boundaries between concert performances, ritualism, installation, staging and spontaneity. The ensemble has a varying constellation, ranging from a trio to a chamber ensemble.
‘Men perhaps’ is the first single release from the upcoming double CD of the musical audio drama ‘The Mark on the Wall’ by Stepha Schweiger, based on the stream-of-consciousness short story of the same name by Virginia Woolf, performed by the European Music Project ensemble. ‘Men perhaps’ unfolds a dense, essayistic soundscape exploring the more or less visible norms of our society. In the same way, Whitaker’s Table of Precedency appears to dictate its irrefutable hierarchy. Yet gradually, as if by magic, these laws slip away until, in the end, only phantoms remain. In this process, the voices and electronic instruments mysteriously merge with the resonant space as a floating web of overlapping proximity and distance, order and dissolution, and ambivalence. Clear gestures meet fragile textures; steady rhythms dissolve into microtonal nuances, pauses and a delicate wall of sound.
