Bonn Cathedral

Beethoven Festival Concert

Saturday, September 6th. 8 PM

Cathedral Basilica, Bonn

Susanne Kessel (piano)

Markus Karas (organ)

Leon Milo ( Electronics and Compositions)

18 € | (reduced 10 € )

As part of the Beethoven Festival, Susanne Kessel , Markus Karas (organ) and the American/French composer Leon Milo will present a concert devoted to works of Olivier Messiaen.  A multi-faceted program in honor of Messiaen’s 100th. year of birth including works by Debussy, Stockhausen, Kurtag,  electronic and acoustic compositions by Leon Milo, among others complete this evening in a very personal portrait of this major French composer. The Bonn Munster cathedral with the great Klais organ is this  the ideal venue for this concert.

Leon Milo, Susanne Kessel & Markus Karas

More information can be found on the Beethoven Festival’s site

Try To Sing Your Own Song, By Natasha Newton

see her birds here!.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Susanne asked me to make an arrangement of a song by Bjork. So decided to use the tune “I Miss You” which I arranged for piano solo and electronics. The work was done entirely via correspondence. I sent her musical material (on paper), the melody line, chords to play at various speeds and dynamics, a bass line, etc. She recorded this material separately and sent these sound files back to me so that I could construct the piece.

It was a huge job, having to cut and paste, time stretch or condense little bits of the recordings. Hundreds of notes had to be pasted into place to create the proper rhythm or tempo. Then, I treated this as if it were a live performance using electronic music techniques to create something like a a second or imaginary pianist hovering around the main performance. This way of working was particularly fitting to the theme of this tune, “I Miss You”.

Here is a link if you would like to listen to excerpts.

Last year, Susanne and I created a duo called PIANOWAVES . We have played numerous concerts since then, premiering new works for piano, percussion and electronics. Our next concert will be at the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn on September 6th. with organist Markus Karas at the Bonner Munsters Cathedral. Music by Debussy, Messiaen, Stockhausen with new works which I will write including soundscapes based on Olivier Messiaen’s life and work as well as a new composition for organ, piano and electronics.

Hope that you can make it!

Until soon,

Best to all, Leon.

Leon Milo. A page from the score of ” I Miss You”.