Sakana Satellite (2020-2021)

日本語：サカナ・サテライト

for 80-voice choir and multimedia

Commissioned by Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden Chor

ca. 10 min.​

Purchase score (USD15) HERE

There is a specific type of pufferfish that creates geometric circle patterns on the seafloor. At night, they position themselves within these circles and sing their songs. However, their voices remain indistinct to human ears because the underwater currents disrupt the sounds. Their calls are carried away, never reaching our human ears.

  Sakana Satellite is an 80-voice choir and multimedia composition, composed in Dresden between 2020 and 2021, a period coinciding with the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. It had its premiere at Heinz-Steyer Stadium in Dresden on July 9, 2021, featuring the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Choir, as an integral part of the "Dresdner Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften 2021". 

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  Amidst strict regulations and requirements imposed by the state, the project received support from both the conservatory and the municipality. Strict testing for Covid-19 prior to each rehearsal, as well as social distancing, was mandatory during all rehearsal sessions. The premiere took place in a stadium field, with each singer standing 3 meters apart, forming a circle with a radius of 400 meters. Each performer held a smartphone in their hands, which was connected via Zoom to the conductor in a concert hall. The Zoom group screen was projected onto the concert hall wall, and the concert was attended by the audience inside the hall.

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  This work was composed as a response to the prevailing global circumstances facing the outbreak of Covid-19. The pandemic laid bare numerous instances of discriminations suffered by East Asians across different regions of the world. As some bemoaned the discomfort of wearing masks, others grappled with the suffocation of suppressing their East Asian heritage to avoid needless conflict. This work pays homage to the Covid-19 experiences of many, capturing the sensation of breathing, conversing, and singing underwater.

July 9, 2021 (World Premiere)

Dresdner Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften

[Video Archive]

Heinz-Steyer Stadium, Dresden, Germany

Olaf Katzer (cond.) and Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden Chor (SATB)

July 11, 2021

Hybrid Music Lab

Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden, Germany

Olaf Katzer (cond.) and Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden Chor (SATB)