Karlheinz Stockhausen composed ‘Stimmung’ for six voices in 1968 in Long Island (USA), where he was surrounded by snow-covered mountains, a frozen sea and strong winds. The work was created at a time when Karlheinz Stockhausen was focusing on the experience of crossing boundaries. He was driven not only by musical and technical motives, but also by a spiritual quest. ‘Stimmung’ is a work with a mystical character: the six voices always sing the same chord, creating overtones and occasionally speaking isolated words. There are no lyrics, but open phonemes and magical names, as well as fragments of erotic poems. ‘Stimmung’ radiates a sense of peace, thanks to its origin near the sea and the flower power era of 1968. It is one of the most important vocal works of the 20th century. 

SoloVoices has worked with the Stockhausen Foundation for Music and the original performers of “Stimmung” in preparing for the performances.