Bregenzer Festspiele: Studio Dan string quartet excellent in "YUM!"
Wen Liu's play, which won the FEDORA Digital Prize, captivated audiences and critics alike
Maiken Beer (cello), Sophia-Goidinger Koch (violin), Alyona Pynzenyk (violin), and Martina Bischof (viola) performed in this experimental XR music theater production, in which luxury and deprivation, beauty and decay, satire and reality collide.The symbolism on stage and in the composition revolves around the letter and the musical note D.
Excerpts from press reviews: (Read the full reviews here)
"Using the terms ‘Desire,’ 'Devotion,‘ and the association with 'dictator,’ Wen Liu paves the way for interpreting her musical theater satire through a play on words; the setting also resembles a large ‘D,’ and her composition revolves around the note D. She escapes monotony through the use of quarter-tones and various bowing techniques, which the excellent Studio Dan string quartet exploits so masterfully that one would have gladly heard more of it.” (https://www.sn.at/kultur/allgemein/bregenzer-festspiele-musiktheater-yum-uraufgefuehrt-art-668727)
"Yet the string quartet plays tirelessly, just as they did back then on the sinking Titanic. This Vienna-based Studio Dan Quartet—featuring Sofia Goldinger-Koch and Alyona Pynzenyk on violins, Martina Bischof on viola, and Maiken Beer on cello—sees its mission as extending far beyond music, thus aligning with the message of this work by artist Wen Liu, who was trained in Vienna, among other places.” (https://www.krone.at/4264036)