HIGH TIDE
HIGH TIDE is an Ensemble in Limbo project created for the reopening of Merlin, one of Budapest’s iconic cultural venues, as part of the Budapest150 Festival on 18 November 2023. The work was developed within the framework of a city-commissioned programme celebrating the 150th anniversary of the unification of Budapest.
The piece was created as a site-specific response to the newly renovated space and its history. The ensemble performed in the centre of the venue, with a quadrophonic sound system speakers surrounding the audience. A light installation was built, with one LED dedicated for each performer - controlled by Márk as means of ‘live notation’.
Throughout the piece, the musicians chose sustained tones from a C melodic minor scale, listening and reacting to one another in real time. The duration and intensity of each tone were shaped by the LED signals.
Combining composition, improvisation, spatial sound and light, HIGH TIDE transformed Merlin’s reopened hall into an immersive listening environment — a slowly rising sound field shaped by the architecture, the performers and the audience.
Performers
Eszter Krulik – violin
Mátyás Ölveti – viola da gamba
Albert Márkos – cello
Ádám Jávorka – viola
Vito Szelevényi – trumpet
Juli Deák – flute / saxophone
Árpád Kiss – trumpet
Lajos Rozmán – clarinet
Márk Bartha – composer, live electronic
Photos by Képszerkesztőség