TONALi Concert: Pupils bring a breath of fresh air to classical music and stir up the CFEL at the same time

Isn't there a letter missing?

That's what some people ask themselves when they enter the CFEL. In large colourful letters, the word "UNVOLLENDE" (unfinishe(d)) greets the arriving audience and draws a question mark in the faces of the guests. During the evening, the young hosts surprised their audience repeatedly with their refreshing performance, which explored the concept of "unfinished". With their performance of body percussion and dance, the young artists skilfully lead over to the night's musical highlight — the symphony "Die Unvollendete" ("The Unfinished") by Franz Schubert, performed by the forty-member TONALi Orchestra under the direction of the young conductor Aurel Dawidiuk.

Bassy sound, electro beats and isolated fragments of sentences fill the CFEL foyer

Twenty-five young people dressed in black and white stride down the central staircase from the first floor into the large entrance hall and line up in front of the audience. From different corners you can hear the sound of rustling, sometimes swelling, then ebbing away again. Various noises scurry back and forth, flit through the rows of chairs, fall silent, flare up again. Irritated, curious glances from the audience try to fathom where the sounds originate. Soft piano and flute music weaves delicate notes into the rhythmic carpet of sound — a half-hour performance of dance, speech and sound begins.

Why did Schubert not finish his symphony?

In their preparation for the performance at the CFEL, the young performers are accompanied by the pianist Lal Karaalioglu and the flutist Juan Carlos Diaz, two academy members of TONALi. So why did Schubert not finish writing his symphony? Or is the symphony completed after all? What does the word "unfinished" mean anyway? A term that somehow hovers between opportunity and failure and inevitably leaves us pondering. Is "unfinished" and "imperfect" the same thing? And what about "unfinished" and "infinite"? What seems unfinished in my environment? What is perhaps unfinished in myself? Under the guidance of Lal and Juan, the students artistically examine these partly personal questions. In their search for knowledge, the students even questioned physics and produced videos in advance with some scientists from DESY and CFEL, which in turn found their way into the performance.

"The general rehearsal was a real challenge for us"

Timbrels, clapping, stomping and loud sounds from the speakers permeate the foyer two days before the big performance and resound all the way to the third floor. "The general rehearsal was a real challenge for us. We have sensitive measuring equipment in the building," Ralf Köhn, research coordinator at CFEL, says with a laugh. A venture that paid off in the end. "Giving art an unusual setting can be worthwhile for all parties," emphasises Katja Kroschweski, Head of Relation Management at DESY, and continues: " We repeatedly experience that DESY creates access to people through unusual event formats who never would have found their way to us otherwise. "Apart from that, these kinds of events also enrich the portfolio of our DESY CONNECT network," adds Miriam Huckschlag, consultant in Relation Management. In the end, everyone's efforts were worth it. "Die Unvollendeten" is a successful and interesting experiment that sounds like it deserves to be repeated.

🌼 DESY says thanks!