After the summer break, we are breaking mad! The first concert of the 2026/2027 season brings together music, video, electronics, and a chicken. Breaking Mad is a concert in which electronics and video are, as per usual in SEZ productions, integral parts of the performance. The video expands the performing space, changes our perspective, and sometimes brings things onto the stage that would otherwise never have been able to appear phisically. Members of the ensemble will often appear simultaneously live on stage and on the big screen, meaning that, in a way, we will be performing with ourselves. The whole program explores different ways of connecting sound, image and technology.
The concert opens with Croatian composer Stanko Juzbašić and his Artifacts for electronics. Juzbašić’s work has long crossed the boundaries between music, theatre, and performance, making his piece a particularly fitting way to begin the evening. We are also pleased to present Ivica Bukvić, a composer and researcher whose work explores computer music and the relationship between music, technology and performance. His piece 0s and 1s Drifting Apart performed by L2Ork International Ensemble takes this idea quite literally: musicians who are not physically present in the concert hall become performers through technology, appearing and playing from elsewhere. Live! The piece is co-performed by (listed alphabetically, with the work’s original co-creators marked with an asterisk):
Ivica Ico Bukvic* (ensemble founder and director)
Justin Kerobo*
William Rhodes*
Jacob Alan Smith*
Yushan Xu
Feihong Yu
Tianqi Zhang
Another thread running through the programme is formed by works carrying the SEZ/ prefix. These pieces are created collectively by members of the ensemble and are based on our own archival recordings combined with improvisation. In other words, the members of the ensemble perform with themselves from the past, enter into dialogue, and attempt to figure out what exactly we thought we were doing before. Dialogue and Finally Some Good Music continue our small obsession with interactive video. The program also brings together two very different musical worlds: Kurt Weill’s Alabama Song in a new multimedia setting, and Chris Hung’s solo work Lacrimosus for accordion.
Our special guest is Mexican composer Alejandro Vera, who spent two years studying in Croatia. For this project, he has received a scholarship from the Mexican government, and he will also join us in person for the concert. The programme features two of his works: Heisenberg for clarinet, video and electronics, and Pio for percussionist and electronics. In Pio, our percussionist encounters a peculiar instrument – a very aggressive toy chicken. Who will win, the chicken or the percussionist? Speaking of international collaborations, a young Norwegian composer Ida Grande Kaurin will also join our concert with her piece for video, I Am Slowly Being Edited, as part of SEZ’s growing collaboration with the Norwegian contemporary music scene.
PROGRAM
Stanko Juzbašić: Artifacts, for electronics
Ida Grande Kaurin: I Am Slowly Being Edited, for video
Alejandro Vera: Heisenberg, for clarinet, video, and electronics
SEZ/Viktor Čižić: Dialogue, for piano, video, and electronics
SEZ/Veronika Ćiković: Finally Some Good Music, for ensemble, video, and electronics
Kurt Weill: Alabama Song, for ensemble, video, and electronics
Alejandro Vera: Pio, for toy chicken and electronics
Chris Hung: Lacrimosus, for accordion solo
Ivica Bukvić: 0s and 1s Drifting Apart, L2Ork International Ensemble (for live video and live electronics)