Torsten’s Rasch’s The Dreaming Boys

Portumnus Ensemble
Lee Tsang (voice, director)

 “… an experience I won’t forget in a hurry. The programme was beautifully balanced and so well performed” – Gertrud Buscher 

 “… a VERY wonderful performance. It had warmth & heart!” – Saltaire Museum

The Dreaming Boys
a melodrama based on the text by Oskar Kokoschka

Music: Torsten Rasch
Translation: Lee Tsang

Torsten Rasch, famous for setting text by the controversial punk/heavy-metal band Rammstein, came to the attention of UK audiences when his The Duchess of Malfi (2010) won an RPS-award for English National Opera. Written for voice and an instrumental quintet redolent of Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, his Die Träumenden Knaben (‘The Dreaming Boys’) (2009) anticipates the spirit of Malfi:

“[Malfi]…a collision of worlds old and new, the fractured narrative, the haphazard whole. His style seems predictable at first – Berg-inflected modern music of the old school – but its true colours emerge layer by layer, shards from an aural prism…”
– Mark Valencia

In this performance by the Portumnus Ensemble, Rasch’s music will be presented in its final version, following revisions in December 2011. It will also be presented for the first time in English translation and alongside Kokoschka’s beautiful images.

Hull Sinfonietta’s Portumnus Ensemble is a spin-off chamber group that is dedicated to introducing audiences to new music. Named after the Roman god of gates, doors and harbours, it aims to open up routes to experience and understanding by offering Janus-like dual perspectives on the past and the future.

2.30pm Composition Workshop featuring works by student composers led by Dr Tsang and the Portumnus Ensemble. Observers welcome.

Enquiries: tickets@hull.ac.uk

In association with Hull Sinfonietta