Founded in 2004, the Meitar Ensemble from Tel Aviv has made a name for itself far beyond Israel as one of the most important ensembles for contemporary music. Now it is launching a new work by Samir Odeh-Tamimi: Óstrakon, co-commissioned with the VOICES Performing Arts Festival Berlin and supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, will be premiered at Studio Annette in a concert entitled Remnants of Sanity. In addition to Samir Odeh-Tamimi's new work, the Meitar Ensemble will perform compositions by Eliav Kohl, Clara Iannotta, Edo Frenkel and Hana Ajiashvili.
Samir Odeh-Tamimi says about his work: "Óstrakon (in Ancient Greek ὄστρακον, meaning "pottery shard") refers to the ancient shards of pottery that were used in Ancient Egypt and Greece. These so-called "Ostraka" served as writing materials and were often considered fragments or sketches. The discovery of over 18,000 inscribed pottery shards in ancient Athribis, Egypt, which were used as writing material around 2,000 years ago, deeply impressed me. What particularly fascinates me is the idea that by piecing together these shards – not necessarily in their original order – a new, self-contained document emerges. This idea of the fragmentary whole was the inspiration for this composition. It is about the process of assembling and linking musical elements – viewed as small particles that come together to form a new unity. I used aleatoric composition techniques to create high sonic and rhythmic complexity, giving the musicians greater creative flexibility. While each musical decision is precisely determined, the piece unfolds in the aleatoric interplay of the musicians into a dense, layered, and complex sound structure."
