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Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain at Rothko Chapel and Peabody Institute

May. 01, 2017

Georg Friedrich Haas's <em>in vain</em> at Rothko Chapel and Peabody Institute

in vain, Georg Friedrich Haas’s hour-long microtonal masterpiece for 24 instruments, receives performances this month at Rothko Chapel with Loop38 and at the Peabody Institute by the Now Hear This ensemble.

Rothko Chapel, the meditative architectural space in Houston housing fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko, is a keen location for a performance of in vain, which incorporates choreographed lighting changes and durations of complete darkness. Sir Simon Rattle, who has been a champion of the work for many years, has compared it to Rothko’s paintings, saying that “the piece, like those paintings, seems to throb and glow. And one of the things about the paintings is that the longer you look, the more dynamic they seem to be.”

Watch a performance by Chicago’s Dal Niente ensemble:

The performance at Rothko Chapel, given by the enterprising contemporary music collective Loop38 and led by Jerry Hou, takes place on May 2. Later in the month, Courtney Orlando leads Peabody’s contemporary ensemble Now Hear This in a performance of in vain on May 6 at Peabody’s Leith Symington Griswold Hall.

Since its premiere in 2000, in vain has been performed extensively throughout North America, with nearly 70 performances worldwide. 

View the score:

For more information on Georg Friedrich Haas, visit universaledition.com.

Georg Friedrich Haas
in vain (2000)
for 24 instruments
2.1.2.1-2.0.2.0-2perc-hp.acc-vn.va.vc.db
70’

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