Brigitta Muntendorf: Last Show (2026)

Brigitta Muntendorf (*1982) Last Show, Q&A for ensemble and audience (2026) Norbert Ommer, sound design Lukas Nowok, electronics Steffen Klaue, programming & network Felix Dreher, sound Sita Messer, stage Mehdi Moradpour, dramaturgy Ensemble Modern Xizi Wang, conductor World Première, 17 October 2026, Donaueschinger Musiktage '26 «When an acoustic stimulus occurs and reaches a functioning hearing system, a response is always recorded in a person’s brain waves. The detection of sound is virtually inevitable. However, for hearing to become listening, additional processing steps are required. Hearing becomes listening when a person turns their attention to the sound with the intention of processing the information it contains. Listening requires not only the detection of sounds but also – at least short-term – the storage of information, concentrated attention on what is being heard, the maintenance of this concentration over a certain period of time, and the shielding of this process from distractions. While hearing represents a kind of ‹all-around monitoring›, listening is selective and focused and is guided by intention. Listening requires effort to coordinate attentional processes, including focusing on what is important and filtering out distractions. Initiating and controlling attention and concentration consumes energy and draws on the listener’s working memory. Since listening is guided by the intention the listener has formed, it continues only as long as the listener maintains that intention.» (Magdalena Zorn and Ursula Lenker: (Zu-)Hören interdisziplinär, Münchner Veröffentlichungen zur Musikgeschichte, Sonderband 1, Allitera Verlag, 2018) In the age of platform capitalism, an industry has emerged whose business model is the capture of human attention. Communication is (algorithmically) emotionalized; every glance, every click, every reaction is recorded, analyzed, and optimized – attention is a scarce resource. Machines learn what binds us before we even realize we’re being bound. The question is no longer how people become attentive – but how much longer attention will remain a human decision. (And we haven’t even begun to discuss the development of intentions.) In this context, listening seems like an act of resistance; I would even call it an aesthetic and political practice of resistance – but for how much longer? Where can we find the radical listeners? A concert in Donaueschingen, featuring New Music and for an audience eager for new listening experiences, is the perfect setting for a social experiment called Last Show. Last Show turns the concert on its head – the concert hall is not viewed as a venue for performance, but as a testing ground for a practice under threat. Music becomes the medium, and listening becomes the material. Through a live voting tool, the processes that are usually hidden from view during a concert are made visible: expectations, attention, and the individual and collective movements of listening. The audience does not become the subject of a survey, but rather part of an investigation into a skill whose future has become uncertain. Last Show was created as part of CONNECT – The Audience as Artist, an initiative of the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne in collaboration with the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Het Muziek, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, and Ensemble intercontemporain. Since 2016, CONNECT has sought to challenge the traditional division between audience and performers and to view the audience as an active part of the artistic process. Donaueschinger Musiktage '26 #domt26 https://www.swr.de/donaueschinger-mus... Ausführliches Programmbuch der Donaueschinger Musiktage '26 https://cutt.ly/ryEHmjPt Official Composer Website http://www.brigitta-muntendorf.de/ This video has a purpose of promotion, not for profit. If you have any complaints about copyright issues, please write me a direct message at dhdmlwls02(at)gmail(dot)com before submitting a report to YouTube. Then I will delete the video as soon as possible.