Projekt mit Katia Geha (sonic space basel)
Premiere: Feb 14 | Basel M54
This work is based on a video filmed by a journalist detailing a bucket list of a little girl who passed away in a war zone. Her final wish was to go to Switzerland. I found this story two days after I received my acceptance letter into the Musik-Akademie in Basel, and it forced me to consider how different I really am from this young girl. Our wishes were not so dissimilar, our curiosity and love of life were almost identical, and yet I have the privilege to go to Switzerland. Although I do have the potential to live out these wishes, I do not have the same extent of gratitude when I buy a new pair of socks, because life always provided me with new socks when I needed them. Life granted me a snack when I was hungry, a family that I could talk to for hours at my disposal, and even a medium through which I could express my emotions. Even when we are given the opportunity to live out someone’s final wishes in life, is it worth it?
For I will never be this anonymous girl living out her wishes with excitement, bliss, and eternal satisfaction. I do not have her eyes, or her hair or her smile. And I do not have her hope that one day she would have had the opportunity to escape the war she was living in. Katia Geha
KlangLab: Dino Georgeton | Bertrand Gourdy | Zacarias Maia | Chris Moy | Noa Mick | Adrían Albaladejo | Katarina Leskovar
Premiere: Feb 14 | Basel M54
This work is based on a video filmed by a journalist detailing a bucket list of a little girl who passed away in a war zone. Her final wish was to go to Switzerland. I found this story two days after I received my acceptance letter into the Musik-Akademie in Basel, and it forced me to consider how different I really am from this young girl. Our wishes were not so dissimilar, our curiosity and love of life were almost identical, and yet I have the privilege to go to Switzerland. Although I do have the potential to live out these wishes, I do not have the same extent of gratitude when I buy a new pair of socks, because life always provided me with new socks when I needed them. Life granted me a snack when I was hungry, a family that I could talk to for hours at my disposal, and even a medium through which I could express my emotions. Even when we are given the opportunity to live out someone’s final wishes in life, is it worth it?
For I will never be this anonymous girl living out her wishes with excitement, bliss, and eternal satisfaction. I do not have her eyes, or her hair or her smile. And I do not have her hope that one day she would have had the opportunity to escape the war she was living in. Katia Geha
KlangLab: Dino Georgeton | Bertrand Gourdy | Zacarias Maia | Chris Moy | Noa Mick | Adrían Albaladejo | Katarina Leskovar
Katia Geha (b.2002) is an Australian-Lebanese composer based in Sydney (Eora) who composes experimental performance art music often with a conceptually grounded political framework, aimed in prompting both the performers and the audience in rethinking social and political ideas. Katia recently received first class Honours as part of her Bachelor of Music (Composition) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. A recipient of the Myron Kantor Bequest, Katia studied under Professor Liza Lim AM, Dr Damien Ricketson, Dr Paul Stanhope and Dr Benjamin Carey.
As a classically trained pianist from the age of three, Katia received multiple music scholarships throughout her schooling years. However, Katia’s main instrument is the oboe where she studied under Zoe Sitsky and Nicola Bell. She currently plays as an oboist with The Sydney Youth Orchestra. She has appeared as a Guest Artist with the UNSW Symphony Orchestra on Cor Anglais, and regularly performs experimental and contemporary music for the oboe.
In 2020, her work was published by Orpheus Music, and Katia was a winner of the Open Fanfare Competition with Artology. In 2022, her arrangement was performed and broadcasted on Channel 7 for ANZAC day, and later that year her first orchestral work was a finalist in the Sydney Conservatorium’s Orchestral Reading Competition. In 2023, Katia was a participant at both Impuls Academy in Graz, Austria and Darmstadter Ferienkurse in Darmstadt, Germany. Since 2021, Katia has been the librarian for the Australian World Orchestra having the opportunity to work with Australia’s top international and national musicians and tour with Zubin Mehta AC, Alexander Briger AO and Andreas Scholl.
This year, Katia was a winner of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Cybec commission, where her work was performed in January. In July she will head to Aarhus, Denmark as a composer in the Danish New Music Academy, and to Buffalo, New York in June for a premiere at the June in Buffalo festival. She has also received commissions this year from renowned Australian ensembles, Omega Ensemble and Ensemble Offspring with premieres at Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Hall. Next year, Katia will continue her studies in Switzerland at the Musik-Akademie Basel under Professor Johannes Kreidler.
