Gourzi, Konstantia

Gourzi, Konstantia – between the lines für Zither (performance score / first print)

Composer´s notes       

between the lines was commissioned for the 9th International Competition for Zither Solo. The soloist is engaged in two musical tasks at once: playing the instrument and singing alternately.

At the beginning of the piece, up to about bar 30, there should be a clear sound relationship between the instrument and the performer’s voice, in order to create a concentrated and compact sound plane between hands and voice. The impression should be that the singing is a reaction of the performer to his playing, as if he is looking for a sonic coexistence in both actions together, in order to create a certain balancing atmosphere, a bridge for a harmonic balance between playing with the hands and playing with the voice.

This part plays at the same time the role of a prologue for the dance that starts from measure 41, creating more and more a distant memory of a Renaissance dance. At the end of the dance, a small cadenza is played, which the performer is free to shape and which ends in an explosive mood. Immediately after this, beginning at measure 88, the ending is prepared to bring the piece into an “out of breath” situation. In the last bar, the composition concludes with a strong exhalation, as if the goal of the musical interpretative journey has been reached.

Konstantia Gourzi

“I see composing and conducting as a whole, as an inseparable relationship,” says Konstantia Gourzi, who combines the rare roles of composer and conductor in an extraordinary way.

She is influenced by the identity of different cultures and musical traditions. Konstantia Gourzi deals with current social issues and incorporates them into her musical work. Creating a connection between the arts and cultures inspires her time and again to create new performance concepts.

Konstantia Gourzi’s compositional work includes works for orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo pieces as well as works for music theater and film music. Her musical partners and collaborations include, in addition to renowned soloists and ensembles, the Lucerne Festival, the Grafenegg Festival, the Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau, the Staatsoper Berlin, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Ensemble Musica Nova Israel, among others, the Ensemble Neue Musik Moscow, the Athens State Orchestra, the Kasseler Musiktage, the Nuremberg Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, the Patrimonio Nacional Spain, the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Competition and the ARD Music Competition.

In addition to her duties as composer and conductor, Konstantia Gourzi has been the founder and director of various ensembles since 1990, including the ensemble attacca berlin, the ensemble echo, the ensemble oktopus für musik der moderne as well as the network and ensemble opus21musikplus.

Born in Athens, Konstantia Gourzi attaches great importance to the promotion of young artists. She holds a professorship as conductor for ensemble conducting of new music at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.

Read more about Konstantia Gourzi – A biographical essay > HERE