9th International Festival of Contemporary Avant-Garde Music in Moscow

"New Music on Old Instruments, Old Music on New Instruments is the slogan of the 9th "Moscow Forum" festival of contemporary avant-garde music to be held on April 14th-20th.

According to the festival's organisational committee, their idea is to overcome the traditional opposition of avant-garde and classical music, accentuating some common points in contemporary and pre-Bachian composing. The "old instruments" are those of Baroque and Renaissance (the lute, the harpsichord, viola da gamba, viola d'amour, Baroque violin and cello), but contemporary composers create their works for them too. At the same time, the festival is called to actualise contemporary interpretation of old music on contemporary instruments.

The festival's programme includes contemporary arrangements of old works, old and contemporary canons and plays.

This year, the festival's guests are the fabulous British gamba ensemble Fretwork for which such renowned 20th-century composers as Michael Nyman and John Taverner wrote their works, the Da Capo ensemble leading in America's music avant-garde. The Russian participants include The Contemporary Music Studio (the festival's basic collective), "318" Old Music Ensemble of the Moscow Conservatoire, Alexei Semyonov, head of Lad, one of the oldest Russian ensembles of old music, pianist Mikhail Dubov and others.