Christian Winther Christensen/Ensemble Ascolta: Children’s Songs - Klang Festival Copenhagen Experimental Music Menu

Christian Winther Christensen/Ensemble Ascolta: Children’s Songs

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The Danish composer Christian Winther Christensen's work Children's Songs, written for the German Ensemble Ascolta, revolves around a child's universe. Kitschy little figurations and quotes from the world of children's music – a world which has taken a multitude of different forms throughout the history of music – as well as interpretations of the wondrous sounds that arise from children's interaction with toys contribute to shaping this intense, magical work for seven musicians and a radio. 

Children's Songs was first performed in a shorter version at Donaueschingen in 2022 but has now been further developed with the support of KLANG into an independent concert work of 45 minutes. Throughout his many years as a composer, Christian Winther Christensen has operated within a decidedly playful musical universe, but in Children's Songs, the playful has taken on a very special meaning. The piece's musical references, he has said, are not to the music of his own childhood. On the other hand, he gained a completely new fascination with and understanding of the child's universe when he himself became a father of two. 

Since 2003, Ensemble Ascolta has worked to expand the framework of classical music through concerts that incorporate elements from theatre, video, performance, and installation art as well as rock music – and now also children's songs.

Supported by: 

SWR, KODA Culture and the Statens Kunstfond, Goethe-Institut Dänemark.

Photo: Astrid Karger

Venue

KoncertKirken

Blågårds Pl. 6A 2200 København

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Artists

Christian Winther Christensen (1977)

Danish composer who likens his music to the two- faced Janus and writes post-apocalyptic music after the end of music. Extended preparation techniques turn familiar instruments into distorted echoes.

Ensemble Ascolta

German ensemble that has been expanding the horizons of the contemporary music landscape since its inception in 2003. The ensemble has commissioned and performed about 250 new works.