In spring 2018, 24 piano recordings – I call them fractals – came to life on a grand piano in a transparent membrane cube. For 40 days in total isolation in central Africa’s Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world.
They were recorded on microphones permanently installed in the cube in the desert, and they were published on social media along with video footage.
In California studies, in the summer and fall of 2018, I worked together with film composer David Bertok, to turn these desert fractals into the Desert Symphony mankind. In fall 2019, these 24 fractals will be released as a piano album.
The symphony is composed for a classical orchestra, and is the first of six works inspired by the fractals. It lasts approximately 65 minutes and consists of four movements: Departure – Rise – Fall – Awakening.
The orchestral version of mankind was first recorded in January 2019, by musicians from the Slovak Philharmonic, conducted by Vladimir Matinka in the concert hall of the Slovak Radio Building in Bratislava, Slovakia. In May 2019, it first became available at a CD release event at Munich’s Gloria Palace.