Inori

• Winnie Huang dance-mime

High above the orchestra, one or two “dance-mimes” are enthroned. They sit on a specially constructed scaffold and perform soft, flowing gestures. Karlheinz Stockhausen borrowed the idea for this from various world religions and developed a notation system for the dance-mimes. The ritual-like choreography in Inori is precisely composed and — this was the groundbreaking innovation — structurally interwoven with the music. When Stockhausen’s “Adorations” (which is what the Japanese title means) were presented in the summer of 2018 — the only performance at Lucerne Festival to date — a young violinist took on one of the solo parts: Winnie Huang. For her, Inori was a turning point. The long, intensive engagement with Stockhausen’s work allowed her to “find out what I really wanted to pursue on my artistic path,” as she explains looking back. She turned increasingly to the connection between gesture and sound, commissioned new pieces, and even did her doctorate on this topic. As “artiste étoile,” Winnie Huang brings us another encounter with Inori, presenting the version for a single soloist and tape.