HELICOPTER STRING QUARTET: A film by Frank Scheffer, music by Karlheinz Stockhausen
March 07th, 2012 7:00pm
Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
Tickets: $7 - $10
In one of the most certifiably eccentric musical events of the late 20th century, German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen designed and executed the concept of having four members of a string quartet playing an original piece by Stockhausen in four separate helicopters, all flying through the air simultaneously. The sound was then routed to a central location and mixed together; the work premiered, in turn, at the 1995 Holland Festival. Frank Scheffer's film Helicopter String Quartet depicts the behind-the-scenes preparations for this event; Scheffer also conducts and films an extended conversation with Stockhausen in which the creator discusses the conception and execution of his composition and then breaks it down analytically.
HELICOPTER STRING QUARTET
A film by Frank Scheffer, with music by Karlheinz Stockhausen,
performed by the Arditti String Quartet
35mm, 1995, 81 minutes
This screening is co-presented with the University Musical Society Renegade Series in partnership with the Michigan Theater, in collaboration with the U-M Museum of Art.
Advance tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets, here.
