György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragments is a monumental work: an hour-or-so long exploration of the human psyche through four books of short movements, set to text from Franz Kafka’s personal letters and journal entries. The piece was completed in 1987 and is scored for soprano and violin.
Baltimore-based experimental vocalist Bonnie Lander and I have been in a long term collaboration with this work and recently presented Books II and III for San Diego New Music’s 2018-2019 season The Stories We Tell. Video clips from this concert are below. We are currently planning concerts for the summer and fall of 2019 of Books II and III and working on Book IV, with the intention of performing the entire work in 2020/2021.
Dr. Batya MacAdam-Somer 