The Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka, is one of the most prominent novellas ever written in modern times. This fantastical story sparked the imaginations of readers, directors, playwrights, and composers since it was written more than 100 years ago and offered numerous versions for stage performances. The Atar Trio presents a literary, musical evening introducing two original and contemporary interpretations of the Kafkaesque novella.
In the first part of the evening, the Atar Trio presents "Gregor's Dream," a contemporary work for a trio and a recorded soundtrack. Judith Shatin, an American Jewish composer, dedicated tit o the trio in 2017 and premiered at the University of Virginia, USA, as part of the trio's US tour. In this dramatic piece, Shatin integrates rhythmic and energetic musical language with a recorded soundtrack based on the sounds of insects as recorded by researchers from different parts of the world. ( Listen in this link)
As a light interlude the trio performs an improvisation based on Kafka's letters to Milena from 1920-1923. This session includes some comic quotes from various letters along with fragments that shows different sides of Kafka's personality. The players react to the text and improvise around the phrases and episodes.
The program's center is a musical, literary performance for a narrator, piano violin and cello. .. The show presents a powerful stage version of Kafka's story, adapted by the poet Hamutal Bar-Yosef and a musical soundtrack presented in a live performance on stage edited by the pianist Ofer Shelley. Among the music pieces chosen are those by Shostakovich, Ernst Bloch, Leo Brouwer, and Claude Debussy.
It premiered at the Musical Literature Festival in June 2023 with the support of the Tel Aviv Municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sports. It is also being added to Atar Trio's program catalog.
This program is available in Hebrew, English and German
