I met Camilla Hoitenga as member of faculty of FXSI : Flute Xpansions Sonic Immersion. (Thanks Shanna Pranaitis for all this!) 
Her workshops were always informative, with a nice atmosphere, extremely inspiring. They gave me very interesting tools and gave me courage to create and share moments of music interacting with art.
One month later I was in Darmstadt and was surprised to learn that Camilla herself was there too! And couldn't resist asking her the favor of interviewing her for this podcast, and I am very honored that she accepted.

I am very excited to share this privileged moment with you, and hope you like this episode as much as I do. 

Mix by Olivier Colot - https://oliviercolot.com/

https://www.hoitenga.com
www.SoundCloud.com/Camilla-Hoitenga 
www.renatakambarova.com
https://www.flutexpansions.com 

Excerpts playlist:
Shoko Shida - Aya
Music of Shoko Shida, 2006 | Fontec FOCD2561
Camille Saint Saens - Le cygne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IouIrF4NZVo
Kaija Saariaho - NoaNoa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f48WFC4rjQ
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Poles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj5Dd1QZsYM

Flute Talks - 2 Camilla Hoitenga

Texts taken from "Count" by Valerie Martinez (available at University of Arizona Press) : https://www.valeriemartinez.net/

Performed by Ekmeles (Charlope Mundy, soprano; Elisa Sutherland, mezzo-soprano; Tim Keeler, counter-tenor; Eric Dudley, tenor; Jeffrey Gavett, baritone; Steven Hrycelak, bass) : https://ekmeles.com/

Artwork : "Flooding" by Anil Nene : https://fineartamerica.com/featured/flooding-anil-nene.html

As the waters began to rise

Von der studierenden Straßenmusikerin zur Dozentin, Ensemblemitglied, Solistin und Coach. Camilla Hoitenga spricht im ACHT BRÜCKEN Podcast mit Katherina Knees über ihren Werdegang, Zufälle, Gelegenheiten und den Mut, den eigenen Weg zu gehen. Sie berichtet über ihre Zusammenarbeit mit Karlheinz Stockhausen und ihre erste Begegnung mit Kaija Saariaho 1982 in Darmstadt und die sich daraus entwickelte Freundschaft und den musikalischen Austausch mit der Porträtkomponistin von ACHT BRÜCKEN 2025.

www.achtbruecken.de
www.hoitenga.com

Camilla Hoitenga im Gespräch mit Katie Knees

I saw a star slide down the sky,
Blinding the north as it went by,
Too burning and too quick to hold,
Too lovely to be bought or sold,
Good only to make wishes on
And then forever to be gone
							—Sara Teasdale

The Falling Star (SSAATTBB)

Live performance: Trio Lawrence (Daniel Velasco -flute, Boris Vayner - Viola and  Erin Wood - harp) - March 14, 2025, Kansas City, MO.

Program Notes:
Words are the inspirational seeds for much of the music I compose.  The Voice of the Rain takes its title and inspiration from Walt Whitman’s poem “The Voice of the Rain” from Leaves of Grass. Whitman beautifully describes the world as an everlasting cyclical process of giving birth to itself and giving back life to its own origin. I was especially drawn to the last line of this poem where Whitman reveals a deeper truth about the creative process. He equates the everlasting cyclical nature of life, with the creative process, where - like the rain - the creation changes form but is always the same at its core and eventually returns to the poet as love from those who read the words.  It is my hope that the music captures the essence of Whitman’s powerful meditation on nature and humanity.

The Voice of the Rain was commissioned as part of a New Music USA Project Grant and written for Sarah Frisof - flute, Hannah Collins - cello and Michael Compitello - percussion. The Harp Version was written for Trio Lawrence (Daniel Velasco -flute, Boris Vayner - Viola and  Erin Wood - harp).

The Voice of the Rain 

And who art thou? said I to the soft-falling shower,
Which, strange to tell, gave me an answer, as here translated:

I am the Poem of Earth, said the voice of the rain,
Eternal I rise impalpable out of the land and the bottomless sea,
Upward to heaven, whence, vaguely formed, altogether changed, and
yet the same,
I descend to lave the drouths, atomies, dust-layers of the globe,
And all that in them without me were seeds only, latent, unborn;
And forever, by day and night, I give back life to my own origin,
and make pure and beautify it;

(For song, issuing from its birth-place, after fulfilment, wandering,
Recked or unrecked, duly with love returns.)


The Voice of the Rain (Harp Version)

Peace, Night, Sleep

Sophie Emilie Beha im Gespräch mit Camilla Hoitenga über Kaija Saariaho

Zwischen Flöte und Freundschaft

Nick May, Soprano Saxophone and Alex Li, Piano

PROGRAM NOTES: “Anders als die Andern” (Different from the Others) was inspired by the eponymous 1919 German silent movie. This film is considered the first explicitly queer full-length feature film. One of its powerful messages is an appeal to end judicial and societal persecution. This message from over 100 years ago is utterly contemporary, especially considering the current rise of conservative lawmakers around the United States pushing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The scenes I selected from the full-length movie center on how these laws affect the lives and livelihoods of the LGBTQ+ community and how they are a contributing factor in the high suicide rate amongst its members. This piece was commissioned by Nicholas May for the I Exist Project. 

PERFORMANCE NOTE: This piece can be performed with or without the selected scenes from the silent movie. If the scenes are not screened, then the narrative summary should be shared with the audience prior to the performance. 

CONTENT WARNING: The film and narrative discusses suicide.

SCENES FROM THE MOVIE (NARRATIVE SUMMARY): 
The film opens with famous violinist Paul Körner reading obituaries in the newspaper. He becomes visibly upset. He knows that many of the men took their lives because of the German law known as Paragraph 175, a law which stated that “an unnatural sex act committed between persons of the male sex is punishable by imprisonment.”  In his mind’s eye he sees a procession of famous people from history who suffered a similar fate: Peter Tchaikovsky, Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde and others.

Paul Körner falls in love with Kurt Sivers and the two men are shown walking arm in arm in a public park. While walking together, they pass a man, Franz Bollek who recognizes Körner. Later that day, Bollek confronts him and demands money or else he will expose Sivers.

Körner pays him and keeps it a secret from Sivers. Eventually the blackmailer’s demands become too great and Körner refuses to pay. He reports Bollek for blackmail and has him arrested. In retaliation, Bollek exposes Körner. The judge is sympathetic to Körner and gives him the minimum sentence of one week in prison.
 
Allowed to go home before starting his term, Körner finds himself shunned by friends and family, and no longer employable. His concert agency drops him. He again sees in his mind’s eye the procession of individuals throughout history, and this time he joins the line-up as its last member. He then takes pills and dies of suicide. 

Kurt Sivers rushes to Paul’s side as he lies dead.  Devastated Kurt wants to take his own life. A doctor (a character in the full version of the movie) prevents this and delivers the final powerful message of the movie: You have to keep living; live to change the prejudices by which this man has been made one of the countless victims. You must bring justice to him, and all those who came before him, and all those to come after him. Justice through knowledge!


Anders als die Andern for Soprano Saxophone and Piano

Composer : Malika Kishino, www.malika-kishino.com
Score : EDIZIONI SUVINI-ZERBONI-MILANO
Alto flute : Maruta Staravoitava, www.marutastaravoitava.com
17.01. 2019 in Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln: The Japan Foundation

Monochromer Garten VIII for Alto flute (2016)

I compose music for concerts and various other things but really I compose it FOR people that I care about.  And I teach music composition at the University of New Mexico.

As the waters began to rise

Peter Gilbert

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