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Chaconne for Piano Trio and Electronics at the State Conservatoire of Thessaloniki | Greece

Chaconne for piano trio and electronics is getting a performance at the State Conservatoire of Thessaloniki on 29th of November 2023. Herta Hansena (piano) and Eriks Kirsfelds (Violoncello) who are visiting AUTh with Erasmus are collaborating with Kostas Kampantais (Violin) to present a concert of contemporary music.

The piece was composed during the first half of March 2020 in Thessaloniki after a poem by Gundega Smite and Dimitris Maronidis. The form of the work is a Chaconne in the sense that an imaginary sound of a glass breaking, is repeatedly reflected in all musical gestures, creating a sonic environment where small sonic fragments are generated, cracked, and splintered constantly.

Iannis Xenakis – Paille in the Wind 
Maja Einfelde – Four Elegies 
Jonathan Harvey – Dialogue and Song  
Anton Webern – Three Little Pieces 
Eriks Esenvalds – Last Letters 
Salvatore Sciarrino – Melencolia I 
Gundega Šmite – Cancon de Cuna 
Dimitris Maronidis – Chaconne 

29th November 2023, 21:00 | State Conservatoire of Thessaloniki | Entrance Free

Chaconne for piano trio & electronics world premiere | Latvia

After a long and sad waiting period, Chaconne for Piano, Violin, Violoncello & Electronics is getting its premiere by Paula Šūmane (Violin), Herta Hansena (Piano), and Ēriks Kiršfelds (Violoncello). The concert will occur at Sigulda in Latvia on July 16th, 2023.

The piece was composed during the first half of March 2020 in Thessaloniki after a poem by Gundega Smite and Dimitris Maronidis. The form of the work is a Chaconne in the sense that an imaginary sound of a glass breaking, is repeatedly reflected in all musical gestures, creating a sonic environment where small sonic fragments are generated, cracked, and splintered constantly.

July 16th 2023, Concert Hall Baltais Fligelis, Sigulda, Latvia

Music always wins | Longleash Trio | New York

meta.ξ | music always wins | a dramatized installation by Longleash Trio

Chaconne for piano, violin, Violoncello, and fixed media is going to get its premiere in New York on the 7th of July 2021 by the American Trio Longleash. The piece is focusing on the sonic moment of a glass breaking and creating a crystalline sound while its particles fall apart on the ground. A special poem was composed by Gundega Smite and myself for this purpose and was used as an outline for the development of the form of the piece.

poem by Gundega Smite & Dimitris Maronidis


When asked about his work words and music and the battle between the two, Samuel Beckett was clear: music is the absolute winner, as it “is the idea itself, unaware of the world of phenomena”2, in contrast to Beckett’s view on language and its expressive limitations

This is indeed true, since music ―especially abstract music― has no signified meaning, at least in the way language has. Even when an extra-musical idea or text is signified through the music, to the unaware listener music remains ―and can be perceived as― a signifier, since there is no established code attaching certain meanings to certain sounds.

When it comes to a live performance of music, is this autonomy a virtue or a flaw? Especially when more than one fields of art are involved and a certain ―or uncertain― message is to be delivered, is the absence of the signified a desired quality of music?

At the bottom line, this principle seems to be inevitably present. Thus, the question raised is not how to change the nature of music, but rather the way it is perceived. That is, to question Beckett’s note: why does music always win? Why is language ―or its visual representation― inferior to music?

In a conventional concert situation, the audience is placed against the stage (and the music) and perceives it in a rather passive way, in the sense that no action that can interfere with the performance is meant to be taken. In this way, any other element that could possibly function as a reference (or even signified) is imposed on the top of music and is decorative. In this situation, music wins again.

Read More »Music always wins | Longleash Trio | New York