Photo: Stephanie Berger Photography, courtesy of Park Avenue Armory
5:30pm Introduction with Michel Roth & Peter Paul Kainrath
6:30pm 11,000 Strings — for 50 Pianos & Chamber Orchestra (Concert I)
8:00pm Presentation: Prof. Dr. Anil Seth, neurobiologist – on swarm communication
9:30 p.m. 11,000 Strings – for 50 Pianos & Chamber Orchestra (Concert II)
The opening night of Interfinity 2027 will feature the monumental 11.000 Saiten by Georg Friedrich Haas in its Swiss premiere – a roughly one-hour composition for 50 pianos and chamber orchestra. Each of the 50 pianos is tuned a hundredth of a tone apart and distributed throughout the space, with the audience seated among the instruments. The pianos and orchestra merge into a single, immersive body of sound, creating a three-dimensional microtonal soundscape of extraordinary intensity. The work will be performed by 50 pianists from the Basel Academy of Music together with the world-renowned Klangforum Wien at Messe Basel. Since its world premiere in 2023, 11.000 Saiten has been presented to sold-out audiences in major cities including New York, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna and Berlin.
Supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA).
