A harp, lit intensely from above. A man leads a woman to the harp, then moves away and sits. She begins to play the harp, but also to sing: at first only syllables, then a few words, fragmentary and seemingly unconnected. She breathes and sighs, gesturing to the man who remains mute and passive. The music and her demeanour gradually become more impassioned as she pours out her emotions, from gentle and playful to scornful and violent, now addressing him with full sentences. Their mysterious relationship becomes somewhat clearer as we witness her obsessive emotional turmoil. The initially random musical repetitions and gestures evolve and unfold; a harrowing portrayal of loss and despair emerges. After a last outburst, exhausted, she comes slowly to a close. He calmly rises, goes to her and leads her away in silence. A music theatre piece by Georges Aperghis.   April 1999 Who is Georges Aperghis? Georges Aperghis Patricia Dietzi/Ed. Durrant With over 100 pieces composed and commissions from Ensemble Intercontemporain, Radio-France, WDR, the Strasbourg and Avignon Festivals and Lyons Opera, Georges Aperghis is still unknown in Britain. The bare facts of his life - born in Greece in 1945, early aptitude in visual art, moved to Paris in 1963, formed his own company, ATEM, in 1976 - do not distinguish him. Yet he follows directly from the post-war composers of music theatre and opera: Kagel's 'instrumental theatre' in which players become actors, gesturing with the very motions of playing; Berio and Globokar's emphasis on the meanings and sound of words and phonemes; Stockhausen and LigetiÕs preoccupation with the spatial elements of performing. Other influences include Beckett and Ionesco and their obsession with non-narrative forms and the ambiguities of language. Compositionally, Aperghis fully absorbed serial techniques of organisation and the music of Schaeffer and Xenakis. There are hurdles, however. Aperghis has composed extensively for particular performers and exploited their abilities in productions of his own mise-en-scene. This presents other performers with a daunting unfamiliarity, especially since printed scores sometimes lack vital details of theatrical execution. The dramaturgical complexities, shared by all music/theatre hybrids, greatly extend performers beyond ordinary practise. The imaginative demands require direction, design and lighting and thus extend rehearsal time and increase the ÔproductionÕ needs, often in concert halls where there is little provision for such. Who would want to surmount these difficulties? What musician wants the challenge of encompassing these unfamiliar demands? Any performer who can attest to the dramatic insight, playful wit and musical invention of so original a composer. That's who Georges Aperghis is. The author Philip Headlam conducts The Continuum Ensemble in Recitations and Conversations, three concerts at the South Bank on 15, 16, 17 April featuring the music of Georges Aperghis and other contemporary composers from France. The monthly listings magazine new notes is essential reading for composers, performers, and everyone interested in what's new in new music. In its printed version new notes reaches over 5,000 contemporary music enthusiasts in the UK and around the world. If you promote new music events you should advertise them in new notes. Single concert listings are just £60+VAT. The magazine also features ads for festivals, composer competitions, recordings and more. new notes also features monthly articles on issues at the forefront of new music special offers on CDs, tickets, scores and books for spnm members information about forthcoming spnm events a free classified section for spnm members' non-trade ads. For full details on advertising or inserting leaflets in new notes please contact the Editor Rachel Duncombe: e-mail telephone 0171 630 0950 fax 0171 931 9928

Event listings for this month   Previous articles: March 1999 On frost, birth and death February 1999 Keeping busy... January 1999 Now that's what I call contemporary! December 1998 Forty years of madness? November 1998 To plug in or not to plug in? October 1998 No, honestly it is a cello September 1998 Composing for film July/August 1998 New music on old instruments June 1998 Blue sheep of record companies May 1998 spnm looks to the future April 1998 New Music 98 in Manchester