Composer Louis Andriessen, director Heiner Goebbels, conductor Peter Rundel, and Park Avenue Armory Artistic Director Pierre Audi discuss the creation of DE MATERIE with dramaturg Cori Ellison.

Louis Andriessen (Composer) - Widely regarded as the leading composer working in the Netherlands today, Andriessen is a central figure in the international new music scene. From a background of jazz and avant-garde composition, Andriessen has evolved a style employing elemental harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic materials, heard in totally distinctive instrumentation. . The range of Andriessen’s inspiration is wide, from the music of Charles Ives in Anachronie I, the art of Mondriaan in De Stijl, and medieval poetic visions in Hadewijch, to writings on shipbuilding and atomic theory in De Materie (Part I). He has tackled complex creative issues, exploring the relation between music and politics in De Staat, the nature of time and velocity in De Tijd and De Snelheid, and questions of mortality in Trilogy of the Last Day.

Pierre Audi (Artistic Director, The Park Avenue Armory) - A critically acclaimed director and artistic director, Audi is Artistic Director of the Park Avenue Armory and the Dutch National Opera, a role he has held since 1988. Previously he served as the Artistic Director of the Holland Festival in Amsterdam (2004 until 2014) and was the founding Artistic Director of the pioneering Almeida Theatre in London. Audi has worked with audacious artists in music, theater, and the visual arts who have defined and redefined genres in our own time. A director of note himself, his trajectory has been characterized by both reinventing the classics and supporting groundbreaking new work.

Cori Ellison (Moderator) - Currently staff Dramaturg at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Ellison was Dramaturg at New York City Opera from 1997-2010. Active in developing new opera, she teaches opera dramaturgy for American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program and serves as freelance dramaturg for companies including Canadian Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and Beth Morrison Projects.

Heiner Goebbels (Director) - Visionary German composer and director, Goebbels lives in Frankfurt/Main. Born in 1952, he graduated with degrees in sociology and music. As a composer, he creates music theater works, staged concerts, radio works, and compositions for small ensemble and for big orchestras, collaborating with the finest ensembles, orchestras, and conductors. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Goebbels has composed and directed unique and celebrated music theater works, which have been presented at the most important festivals around the world.

Peter Rundel (Conductor) - One of the most sought-after partners for leading European orchestras, Rundel is regularly invited to guest conduct around the world. Rundel studied violin and was a violinist from 1984 until 1996 in Ensemble Modern, to which he remains closely affiliated as a conductor. In the contemporary music world, he has enjoyed long associations with Ensemble Recherche, the Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, and Klangforum Wien. He is also a regular guest with Ensemble intercontemporain and Ensemble musikFabrik.