Melodic Movement - Polyphonic Prayers, A case study on the process and performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Inori. ENG | AP School Of Arts Skip to main content
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Melodic Movement - Polyphonic Prayers, A case study on the process and performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Inori.

With this research project Winnie Huang wants to analyze and investigate the artistic process of learning and performing Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Inori (for solo dancer-mimes and orchestra). Inori, meaning ‘prayer, invocation, adoration’ in Japanese, is composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1973-74. It is a musical piece requiring the performer soloist to execute precisely notated rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and polyphonic prayer gestures in silence, drawn from a variety of religious practices, accompanied by a full conducted orchestra.

Inori is one of the most extreme cases of gestural/corporal performance featuring highly detailed musical based gestural notation. With the passing of the composer and the limited number of trained performers, Huang’s documented findings will serve as a necessary informative tool and guide for future composers, researchers and performers approaching this genre.

The Stockhausen Foundation and Lucerne Festival have chosen Winnie Huang as one of the soloist performing Inori in the 2018 edition of Lucerne Festival. Huang will receive directions and coaching by the original performers (Alain Louafi and Kathinka Pasveer) and she will have access to all the original/manuscript material related to the composition process and first performances of the work.

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