Ensemble Proton Bern

«Heimkommen» makes you forget time and space: microtonal sound languages in the American just intonation tradition combine with jazz, Renaissance and folk music influences to create an otherworldly «alien folk».

Vicente Atria searches for music that can become home for all people. To this end, he researches historical and contemporary folk music, which he extends specifically to Switzerland and Transylvania for this project and combines with traditions from the Viceroyalty of Peru. In this way, he creates imaginary, speculative overlaps between musical practices and thus a utopia of alternative realities that are detached from space and time.

Francesca Gaza builds a bridge from a contemporary musical language, partly influenced by jazz, back to the Baroque and Renaissance periods. Referring to Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s concept of the «spherical nature of time», Gaza combines styles from different eras and cultures with the knowledge of past generations, their unagitated and playful traditions and practices.

The two world premieres are accompanied by Ben Johnston’s «String Quartet No. 4 – Amazing Grace», transformed into an octet for Proton. Seemingly simple, but in fact ingeniously composed, it features the melody of the church hymn «Amazing Grace», which has become deeply ingrained in American folklore over the centuries and, thanks to its familiarity, evokes a feeling of coming home.

Gaza, Francesca *1995, nine miniatures on the folklore of plants (2026) UA

Johnston, Ben (1926 – 2019), String Quartet No. 4 «Amazing Grace» (1973) Arr. Richard Elliot Haynes (2026)

Atria, Vicente *1992, The Pilgrimage of Paracelsus (2026) UA