World premiere by Francesco Hoch in Bellinzona
«Z contra Z» by Francesco Hoch is the first part of a six-part composition by Francesco Hoch. The piece was premiered on Good Friday.
The traditional Good Friday concert by the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under Diego Fasolis in the Chiesa Collegiata in Bellinzona featured the Requiem by the English composer John Rutter and Giuseppe Verdi's magnificent late work Stabat Mater A new composition by the Ticino composer Francesco Hoch for four-part choir will also be premiered.
The voices are strongly chromatic and sometimes in wide leaps, with mild dissonances dominating the harmony. The short text, broken down into its phonetic components, reads: «Io sono qui. Noi siamo qui. Io sono ancora qui. Noi siamo ancora tutti qui.» («I am here. We are here. I am still here. We are all still here.») These are the words with which Ukrainian President Selenski - Italian: Zelensky - responded to US President Biden's offer of asylum shortly after the Russian invasion of the country. This also explains the title Z versus Z.
The coded political statement caused frowns here and there in the run-up to the sacred concert, but was not perceived as such by the audience, who did not know the background to the text. The piece, which received warm applause and was conducted by Liga Liedskalnina from Latvia, who works in Lugano, marks the beginning of a six-part composition that will be performed at the Bern Music Festival on September 4.
