The Unanswered Question

Alena Baeva, our current Artist in Residence, is passionately devoted to contemporary music. For the Supernova she has put together a programme that combines wit, reflection and playfulness, and casts sly hooks into the past: Kurtág's Hommage parodies the iconic opening of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, Thomas Adès brings the English court of Shakespeare's time back to life, and Shostakovich's final symphony is a virtuoso masquerade full of historical allusions which, with a bitter smile, ultimately questions the purpose and meaning of all (musical) activity.