“The premiere of the evening deserves to be included as repertoire in a canon of the immediate present yet to be written: Vito Žuraj's ‘Automatones’ is entertaining and yet incredibly complex, well constructed and irritating in the best sense of the word – contemporary orchestral music at its finest.” Münchner Merkur, 16.10.2023
Powerful and meticulously crafted compositions, often incorporating theatrical elements and spatial sound concepts, characterise the work of Slovenian composer Vito Žuraj, who was born in Maribor in 1979. His music quickly gained recognition in concert halls and has been performed by renowned musical forces such as the New York Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, and Klangforum Wien. He has received commissions from, among others, the Berlin Philharmonic (Anemoi), the Frankfurt Opera (Blühen, named “World Premiere of the Year” in 2023 by the magazine Opernwelt), and Ensemble intercontemporain (Ubuquité). The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra commissioned his aforementioned orchestral work Automatones which was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in 2023.
Vito Žuraj often draws inspiration from non-musical sources: as a passionate tennis player, he channels experiences from specific match situations into a growing series of works – including Changeover for instrumental groups and orchestra, which was awarded First Prize at the 57th Composition Prize of the City of Stuttgart in 2012. Other works take inspiration from the life of alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger, the inventor of European porcelain (Der Verwandler), Sicilian fairy tales (Alavò), and culinary rituals (Hors d’œuvre for cook-performer and orchestra).
Vito Žuraj has received numerous accolades, including the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize from the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, a recognition award from the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne, and the Prešeren Fund Award – Slovenia’s highest honour for artists. He was also a fellow at the German Academy Rome Villa Massimo, the International House of Artists Villa Concordia, and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.
Vito Žuraj studied composition in Ljubljana, Dresden, and in Karlsruhe with Wolfgang Rihm. Since 2016, he has been Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the Academy of Music at the University of Ljubljana.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology the Anemoi were eight wind deities, subject to the god Aeolus, the ruler of all winds, and each assigned a direction from which their winds came and each associated with different seasons and weather conditions, influencing among other things the changing of the climate, the spreading of diseases and the outcome of wars – all subjects that should be addressed by world leaders. In his book “Heaven‘s Breath: A Natural History of the Wind“ the author Lyall Watson describes the wind as a “combination of a force that cannot be apprehended, but nevertheless has an undeniable existence“ – his quote could just as easily apply to music. In the symphonic work Anemoi each of the eight ancient Greek wind gods Boreas, Kaikias, Apeliotes, Eurus, Notus, Livas, Zephyrus and Skiron (depicted in this succession on the Tower of the Winds, an octagonal marble clocktower in the Roman Agora in Athens built around 50 BC and still standing) is characterised by various instrumental formations within the orchestra, including allusions to ancient Greek musical instruments such as the lyre and aulos, the latter's harsh sound being reminiscent of either the howling of wolves or the siren warning of an impending missile attack.
Vito Žuraj, 2024
The Automatones were animated metal statues of animals, humans, and monsters crafted by the divine blacksmith Hephaestus and the Athenian craftsman Daedalus. The boldest of these self-acting creatures—including Caucasian eagles, golden mermaids, and bronze bulls—should be able to think and feel like humans. In one myth, when Herakles was visiting Daedalus' workshop, he smashed one of the statues, mistakenly believing he had been attacked by a real person. So a veteran of artificial intelligence, a topic that is now shaping the world like never before. Behind the AI is extremely delicate "self-learning" computer programming and this stimulated me to research sound about illusions of the seemingly endlessly lasting ascending tone sequences or rhythmic accelerations, as well as to use different types of motor skills in general. But should artificial intelligence also be able to "feel" - or is it just a matter of time?*
*No AI was used in the compositional process of Automatones.
Notice of the work by Vito Žuraj
A photon in the dark – like an atom of sound in silence. In the novel “Of Human Bondage” by British author William Somerset Maugham, the protagonist Philip Carey feels a deep affection for Mildred Rogers, his femme fatale, but she does not reciprocate his emotions. The resulting apparent love affair completely destroys Philip emotionally. I happened to meet “my own” Mildred Rogers. It seemed to me as if all my thoughts revolved only around the Unattainable. Better a painful end than pain without end – I had to say goodbye to her. Then I wandered aimlessly through the woods, searching for sound, for I heard no music in myself at all — only silence in the dark. During this seemingly endless journey, my first sonic flash struck me: a short, soft, high frequency that sounded in time with my heartbeat. I notated this sound impulse in the form of a muffled beat on a bass drum, joined by a short bow stroke on crotales, and I used this sound for the very beginning of my cello concerto.
Thus the composition has autobiographical features, including the fact that I played the cello myself when I was younger. As one of the recurring motifs in the composition, I captured the sonic image of the church bells of the German city of Bamberg, where I was an artist in residence at the Villa Concordia at the time of writing. Are the bells a metaphor for salvation? Among the percussion instruments, I included two church bells, such as those used by Hector Berlioz in his Symphonie fantastique. Another recurring motif is the melancholy reminiscence of the main theme from my chanson setting of Sonnet No. 128 by William Shakespeare, which I dedicated to the Unattainable. The cello concerto is thus a metaphor for the unveiling of my personal world.
Vito Žuraj (translated to English by Neville Hall)