Imagine highly complex, atonal contemporary music played thrillingly on—of all instruments—the accordion.
The musical piece “The Book of One Man Dead” by American composer Michael Edward Edgerton will be performed in Tokyo as part of the 9th International Festival ‘Creative’ on May 31. World-famous accordionist Timo Kinnunen was chosen to play it for the first time.
The festival, held at the new Kanagawa Art Hall May 29-31, emphasizes contemporary and improvised music performances. Many musicians are invited to play at the event every year. This time, the Finnish accordion master was among the lucky ones chosen.
Timo Kinnunen, who won the World Championship for Accordion at the age of 16, was impressed by Edgerton’s “Tempo Mental Rap,” awarded at the prestigious Kompositionspreis Der Landeshauptstadt in Stuttgart, Germany. Kinnunen asked him to compose a similar work.
“I was asked to write the composition in March and have it ready in eight weeks,” notes Michael Edgerton in a special online interview with The Epoch Times.
