Musical explorations of leadership at the final Mensch, Musik! concert with RSB

Join us on Friday 24 May at Haus des Rundfunks for the final concert in the Mensch, Musik! series, where we'll explore the complexities of leadership in collaboration with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.

At Mensch, Musik #9 – “Leading (Astray)” – you’ll experience a mix of classical music interwoven with contemporary performance and live electronic music, featuring a teenage rap choir, a collaborative performance by our Electronic Music Production & Performance alumni Samaquias Lorta and Emme Moises, an immersive installation by Music & Sound Design for Visual Media student Ossagrosse and of course the RSB orchestra. Below, we interviewed Samaquias and Emme to find out what we can expect from their multi-movement composition at the event.

At the heart of the Mensch, Musik! series is the goal of making orchestral music accessible to younger generations, both on stage and in the audience – this edition will be centered around Saul Williams’ and Thomas Kessler’s collaboration “said the shotgun to the head”, which explores patriarchy and the coming of a female messiah. 

Tickets for the Mensch, Musik! #9 performance at Haus des Rundfunks on Friday 24 May are available here.

Samaquias, in October 2022, you were the first of our creative community to perform alongside the orchestra. How has your approach to storytelling through electronic music changed since then?

Samaquias: Over the last year, I have detached myself from using the cello or a laptop. Instead, I have been creating sound from resonate bodies such as contact microphones on glass bowls or clay pots. Using objects unassociated with sound creation is interesting because it colours the timbres in unexpected ways. I will lean heavily into this process for the upcoming performance – it's something audiences don’t see very often.

What can you tell us about this performance? 

Emme: “Deflecting Prism” is a live three-part composition. It is a collaborative sonic adventure, where we will manipulate each other's sounds. I will use an octatrack and eurorack modular, Samaquias with his DIY feedback network. 

How will this relate to the theme Leading (Astray)?

Emme: We explore the theme of leadership by asking how we influence each other – who takes the lead in creating the sounds and who manipulates them? We’re thinking about the responsibility and consequences of leading and the complex interaction between the parts involved.

How will your performance unfold?

Samaquias: Each movement, one of us will start, and slowly the other person takes over with the goal to interpret each other's work through our unique approaches. I won’t spoil anything but Tauchgold has done a phenomenal job at creating a larger narrative around our work and how it fits together with other composers.

What is the key idea you want the audience to take away from your shared performance?

Samaquias: Focusing on community in a time of fragmented ideologies and polarisation is, for us, one form of leadership. I am lucky to have known Emme as a friend and artist throughout my entire Berlin journey – so we used our shared sense of camaraderie and its potential to heal as a foundation for this performance.

Other than technical ability, what hard skills from your time on the Electronic Music Production & Performance course are you bringing with you in order to prepare and perform on the night?

Emme: I graduated a few years ago, so I would say the most valuable thing I’m bringing with me is the musical possibilities of connection. I have known Sam since my first day at class and then continued being friends and musical collaborators since. Meeting like-minded people, exchanging art views and having physical places to experiment sonically is incredibly important.  For me, the community aspect is everything.

After the concert, make sure you stay for a drink and see the site-specific multimedia installation in the foyer of the Der Große Sendesaal. “/Sleep” is an installation of several short films made as a collaboration between Music & Sound Design for Visual Media student Ossagrosse and AI. As we observe various scenes from daily life, such as supermarkets and busy streets, little clues emerge that reveal a sense of detachment – something in the narrator's voice or the look of the characters. Are they fully human? The result is a stream-of-consciousness rendering of the world around us, tinged with a sense of mystery and dream-like meandering.

Tickets for the Mensch, Musik! #9 performance at Haus des Rundfunks on Friday 24 May are available here.