The rainy days

F e stival

A piece of music lasting almost the entire day… Compositions lasting mere seconds… Large groups of performers or (apparently) minimal effort… Extremely loud or extremely soft… Music history of the past one-hundred- plus years can also be interpreted as the history of extremes and their perception. Appropriately, «Extremes» is the motto of this year’s edition of rainy days. In a world where an overstimulating flood of information tends to dominate daily life, it is often extremes and extremism which have cornered our perception in society, politics, economics, human relationships – indeed in many, many areas of human life. Things feel increasingly extreme – and the arts have always been a playing field and laboratory for exaggerations of all kinds, a place where boundaries can be tested.

During the second edition of the festival curated by the Luxembourgish composer Catherine Kontz, various extremes are juxtaposed, contextualising one another. Classical modernists such as John Cage, Morton Feldman or even Erik Satie stand alongside brand-new works. Does art that scandalized audiences decades ago still seem extreme to us? The full Luxembourg Philharmonic with soloists on the one hand, the invisible performer in a new piano concerto without a pianist by Liam Dougherty on the other – these mark extremes, as do other performances featuring 17 electric guitars or one lonely harp.

The range of artists involved also includes extremes: the names of the grand masters of the Arditti Quartet will be found alongside participants in the composition workshop for children.

A diversity of aesthetics and styles, of concepts and approaches, of formats and possibilities tailored to New Music aficionados just as much as those that are simply curious, catering to those who don’t want to miss even one festival minute and those who attend just one select performance.

Everyone decides for themselves what they consider extreme – and here, every- one can put this to the test!