Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Uniquely immersive performances of contemporary classical music: Paola Prestini’s HOUSES OF ZODIAC, Georg Friedrich Haas’s 11,000 STRINGS

• By drediman
• October 4, 2025
• No Comments

This past week, I encountered a pair of uniquely immersive performances of contemporary classical music that unlocked live music’s ability to viscerally shake one to the core. If this has piqued your interest, read on for further details on these sensational experiences.

HOUSES OF ZODIAC
Death of Classical / The Green-Wood Cemetery
Closed

First up at the atmospheric catacombs of the Green Wood Cemetery was Death of Classical’s elemental and multidisciplinary presentation of Paola Prestini’s Houses of Zodiac (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Originally created by Prestini for her husband — former Kronos Quartet cellist Jeffrey Zeigler — in 2021 during the depths of the pandemic, the piece draws from the composer’s past works (e.g., Océano, Ophelia), weaving them together alongside the text of poets like Pablo Neruda, Brenda Shaughnessy, Natasha Trethewey, and Anaïs Nin. The resulting concoction is an intoxicating and decidedly avant-garde soundscape — complex, often cryptic, and emotionally potent — that encourages listeners to meditate on the mysteries of life’s winding and murky journey and the inherent divinity of our humanity. The folks over at Death of Classical have outdone themselves with this week’s ambitious and immersive presentation of the work. Indeed, it was a fitting conclusion to the company’s 2025 season of the Angel’s Share and a sublime example of artistic director Andrew Ousley’s fiercely out-of-the-box and tastefully macabre sensibility. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the production was the incorporation of dance into the fold, namely the vivid choreography and performances of gorgeous former New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin and emotive Butoh master Dai Matsuoka, both of whom brought urgency to their dancing. Raw and intensely intimate, the couture-clad duo were often times merely inches away from some audience members. Throughout, Zeigler played with both precision and abandon — accompanied by some evocative underscoring — diving into the challenging hourlong composition with complete conviction.

11,000 STRINGS
Park Avenue Armory
Through October 7

Then on the other end of the spectrum you have the North American premiere of another experimental work of contemporary classical music, Georg Friedrich Haas’s 11,000 Strings (RECOMMENDED) at the Park Avenue Armory. As opposed to the almost oppressive intimacy of Houses of Zodiac, Haas’s work has been put on on an impressively operatic scale at the armory’s massive drill hall, performed with incredible precision on 50 specifically Hailun pianos (each contains more than 200 strings each, hence the piece’s title) by mostly local musicians — as well as a number of string, brass, and percussion instruments by 25 members of the Klagforum Wien ensemble — that encircle approximately 1,300 audience members. It all amounts to a sonically overwhelming and at times utterly otherworldly experience, with familiar hints of Wagner that weave in and out of the score. At times relentless and thunderously rumbling — bordering on chaos, even — and at other times delicate and expressive, 11,000 Strings demands that listeners surrender themselves the enveloping and sometimes excessive soundscape and luxuriate in the rare sensation of being walled in by sound in all directions. The experience also compels listeners to contemplate the complexity and nuances of the act listening. My only minor gripe is that I wish there was the opportunity to sample the sound at various vantage points within the mighty oval. Perhaps democratically eliminating seats from the experience and allowing for audience mobility would achieve this goal? Nevertheless, experiencing the piece live is a true event, which is only heightened by the undeniable theatricality of its presentation. And although a bold spirit of experimentation pervades 11,000 Strings, Haas’s work is a real crowd-pleaser.