Aus dem Nichts – Fritz Hauser & Neophyt Vokalensemble

Created for Interfinity by composer and percussionist Fritz Hauser, the new work Aus dem Nichts (Out of Nothing) explores the acquisition of language and the origins of human communication. Together with 8 percussionists and the vocal ensemble Neophyt, directed by Tobias Stückelberger, Hauser creates a multi-layered soundscape in which communication seems to emerge “out of nothing”. From an initially diffuse web of sounds, the first noises, calls and rhythmic patterns begin to surface. Gradually, repetitions and relationships form, structures become perceptible, and the first fragmentary thoughts begin to take shape.

 

But the process stops just before the emergence of the first concrete word: the journey from pre-linguistic sound to articulated language deliberately remains incomplete. In an epilogue, the work instead makes a radical leap forward in time, moving directly into a quasi-digital form of communication.

 

Through Aus dem Nichts, Hauser makes the most elementary processes of communication tangible through music, while asking how meaning and understanding can emerge from sound, rhythm and repetition.