Electric STIO at IEM Cube

The Styrian Improvisers Orchestra with a focus on electronic instruments and spatial sound reproduction, STIO presents three conducted pieces by Katharina Klement & Ilmārs Šterns, Seppo Gründler, and Josef Klammer. At the center of the IEM-Cube, the audience experiences this multi-voiced ensemble in its full spatial dimension—ranging from dense orchestral textures to soloistic moments within the framework of conducted improvisation.

image: STIO at Cube © Josef Klammer, with the kind assistance of AI

“the faster, the shorter” – Josef Klammer The title of this piece is almost self-explanatory: Over the course of 12 minutes, the tempo (metrum) is continuously accelerated from 40 to 200 BPM. Only the conductor hears the metronome, guiding the ensemble with hand signals that are open to free interpretation.

“Call and Respond” – Seppo Gründler.
The principle of “call and response” is a musical dialogue in which one musical phrase (the “call”) is answered or completed by a second phrase (the “response”). Instead of a lead vocalist, specific sounds are played back, to which the orchestra responds—sometimes freely, and at other times guided by the conductor’s hand signals.

The Styrian Improvisers Orchestra (STIO) is a collective for free improvised and new music, founded in Graz in 2012. It brings together 15 to 35 musicians from the Styrian scene, along with various guest artists, who function as a single, unified sonic instrument, directed through conductor signals, gestures, or symbols.

STIO Musicians: Nick Acorne, denovaire, Seppo Gründler, Harald Hofmeister, Yvonne Hofmeister, Josef Klammer, Michael Laab, Álvaro Vallejo Larre, Mahtab Miandehi, Oskar Mörth, Reinhard Ziegerhofer.

Thanks to the IEM for hosting us at the IEM cube in scope of the Open CUBE series