Forum Neue Vokalmusik was founded in 2010 at the behest of the Stockhausen Foundation. In the course of that year, the singers worked closely with the performers of the first performance of STIMMUNG, to guarantee an authentic and true interpretation of the work.
Oral tradition and the knowledge of interpreters and performers are very important to the group, who believes that the original music lies hidden in or behind the score; it has to be brought to life (again).
Singer and founder of the group, Frauke Aulbert, is a specialist in harmonic singing. Her dissertation "Overtone singing in contemporary music“ discusses the possibilities and impossibilities of Karlheinz Stockhausens STIMMUNG
The musicians of Forum Neue Vokalmusik perform in international festivals and collaborate with young and distinguished composers, like Stefan Prins, Jagoda Szmytka, Karin Rehnqvist, Georges Aperghis and many more.
2013 Forum Neue Vokalmusik got invited to perform STIMMUNG at the STOCKHAUSEN COURSES KÜRTEN as the first Ensemble since the "original" group.
Overtone singing
Harmonics are international, border-crossing. They take us behind the syntax of a language, to the hidden melody in each sound we phonate. They take us to the origin of speech and vocalization, to the original principal of expression of every being.
Every day we are surrounded by an infinity of overtone sounds. Every machine,
every tree moved by the wind, every call contains harmonics. Harmonics are one the
principles which helps us to understand the sound as it is and differentiate it from others.
Voice is one of the most personal and most individual things a human has. Hearing only the voice – even only the sound of breath – one can recognize age, gender, emotional state, and even the person herself. This is true for every single person in the world.
Overtone singing is, just like speaking, based on the flexibility/movability of the vocal tract. Overtone singing is preliminary to speaking, like a slow motion and magnification of speech. It enables us to consciously hear the structure of sounds, which is normally hidden in the complexity of speech as a whole.
A two-time winner of an interpretation
prize at the International Stockhausen Concerts
and Courses (Kürten, Germany), American
soprano Christie Finn is actively involved in
the world of contemporary performance and
new music theater. Finn has performed as a
soloist with the Asko | Schönberg
Ensemble, VocaalLAB, Ictus, Nadar,
the Hezarfen Ensemble, Oerknal!, Forum Neue
Vokalmusik, and several ensembles in New York
City, including ekmeles, the S.E.M.
Ensemble, Experiments in Opera, and Tactus.
She has performed in Germany, the USA,
Netherlands, Turkey and China, among others.
Philip Lehmann, born in Iran as the son
of a missionary, grew up in Germany and South
Africa. After studying conducting, violin,
Baroque viola and voice at the Hanover
University of Music, Drama and Media, he
now conducts three choirs as well as his
Ensemble21. He also plays Baroque viola in
several ensembles as well as, as a soloist, singing.
Philip Lehmann produces audio recordings
(private and for others), organizes Ensemble21
and Musicfactory21, and arranges scores for all
kinds of constellations.
Natasha López was born in
Johannesburg (South Africa). She studied violin
in Madrid and voice in Guadalajara, and she
earned a degree in voice at the Hochschule für
Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar in 2011. In July
2013 she graduated with honors from the
the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und
Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart with a Master of
Contemporary Music where she studied with
Angelika Luz and Frank Wörner, and for which
she obtained the postgraduate scholarship from
the Spanish foundation Fundación Caja Madrid.
Currently she performs improvisations,
performances and premiere of works and
operas e.g. at the 56. Biennale di Venezia
in collaboration with the German artist Olaf
Nicolai and the Neue Vokalsolisten.
Sean Williams is a Leverhulme Early
Career Fellow at the Reid School of Music,
University of Edinburgh, researching early
electronic music performance practice. He
performs live electronics and sound projection
with Grey Area and the Monosynth Orchestra
playing original compositions, improvisations and
existing pieces by Stockhausen, Wolff, Subotnik,
Ono and others. His performances are
intimately connected with his research into the
practice of early electronic music and media and
its connection to the body, and often feature
period instruments in contemporary contexts.
Sound art pieces have included installations for
Lyrebird at the Threshold art space in Perth,
Dialogues Festival, Edinburgh, and at ZKM in
Karlsruhe, and Stockhausen’s Kontakte in
collaboration with Nicolas Hodges and Colin
Currie in Glasgow City Hallls.
Launch event of "Hamburg International Music Festival" excerpts from STIMMUNG Kl. Saal der Elbphilharmonie
28.04.2018
Hamburg
Hamburg International Music Festival STIMMUNG in cooperation with the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg St. Katharinen, Hamburg
25.02.2017
Durham, GB
Musicon (Durham University)
STIMMUNG in the Town Hall of Durham
in cooperation with the University of Edinburgh
sponsored by the Goethe Institut
21.06.2015
Killesbergpark, Stuttgart
18 Stunden zur Anfechtung der Sommersonnenwende
zur Aufführung kam Musik von:
Yoko Ono, Alvin Lucier, Ryoji Ikeda, Karlheinz Stockhausen( STIMMUNG), Michael Pisaro, James Tenney, Veronika Werthmann [ UA ], Stuart Saunders Smith [ UA ], N. Andrew Walsh [ UA ], Yiran Zhao [ UA ], Sabrina Schray [ UA ]
28.08.2014
Novalis – Musik and Art Festival (Nord-Adria), Kroatien ...Die göttliche Dunkelheit...
Programm: Jagoda Szmytka (*1982): Sky-me, type-me (2011)
Georges Aperghis (*1945): Rondo (1994)
Misato Mochizuki (*1969): Halai (2009)
Karin Rehnqvist (*1957): David’s Nimm (1983)
Kaija Saariaho (*1952): From the Grammar of Dreams (1988/89)
Sidney Corbett (*1960): Die Göttliche Dunkelheit (2005) /Gebet (2002)
Sanja Lasic (*1971): Itching (2013)
FNV – Forum Neue Vokalmusik
Mit: Annika Fuhrmann, Frauke Aulbert, Carla Genchi und Natasha López Video