COBRA FF

With Cobra, John Zorn, perhaps the most iconic figure of the revolutionary American downtown scene of the ’80s and ’90s, crafted a true classic of late 20th-century music. A “Game Piece” for improvising musicians and a “prompter”,” moves away from traditional notation and instead employs a unique system of cards and rules. The title is inspired by a strategy game, and groups around the world continue to come together to explore and create new outcomes from this groundbreaking composition time and time again.

Christoph Ressi, an Austrian composer and music computer scientist, has long been fascinated by the intersection of computer games and music. For his latest piece, he is collaborating with the ensemble to develop a live scoring tool – an innovative application that generates and displays the music notes in real time for the musicians on stage. In this piece, the rules of music-making align with those of a computer game, challenging the musicians to bring great creativity and spontaneity to their performance.

In collaboration with Wien Modern.