Welcome
A new artistic director, graphic identity, and website: Klang 2024 signifies a fresh start and a new approach, exemplified in our name change from ‘avantgarde’ music to ‘experimental’ music. An attitude shift – no longer are we toiling in an endless conflict, where everything we do must relate to a struggle against something else. Instead, we value experimentation in all directions: curiosity and play for its own sake.
The music we present can still be challenging, wild, and complex. It is still at the forefront of what’s new, fresh, or urgently needed. We will always be a celebration of the courage it takes to create – and, on the side of the audience, the courage it takes to hold space.
We see the attempt to experiment as equally important as the results. The quality, relevance, or impact of the work – this is always subjective, up for discussion (and we value this discussion very highly). But by changing the focus from ‘avant garde’ to ‘experimental’, we open a space that can prize vulnerability, originality, courage, or introspection.
The theory is simple, but magical – our artists share their creativity, vulnerability, or even insanity with our audience. This creates movement - the essential truth is that no one leaves the concert the same way they enter it, thanks to the artist’s experiments, and the audience’s act of witnessing. This act is essential and powerful – and this year, with our new listener’s panel initiative, we give it a new platform.
So what’s being experimented with? That’s up for the artists to decide. This year’s festival presents a large range of issues – climate change, generational trauma, queer experiences, childhood memories. Our children’s festival BørneKlang also aims to introduce the playful attitude required to approach life’s challenges to young audiences.
But at the core of everything we present lies the same central problem: how do I process the world around me, and how can I present that for others? With this in mind, welcome to Klang Festival 2024.
James Black, artistic director & Filip Melo, managing director