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Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) Dérive 1 The piece Dérive 1, or Dérive as it was called before the sequel Dérive 2 was added, was first performed by the London Sinfonietta in 1984. The history of the piece goes back to 1976 when Boulez, Lutoslawski, Dutilleux, Pousseur, Blacher and other composers wrote music for the celebration of patron and conductor Paul Sachers 70th birthday. While most of the works became solo pieces for cello, Boulez composed a work for solo cello and six violoncellos, Messagesquisse. The tonal material in all works were musical interpretations or paraphrases of the name Sacher – ess, a, c, h, e, re (d). Six chords are formed from the six notes. Through small and continuous shifts, a feeling of extended time is created which contrasts with melodic ornamentation at a fast pace. This polarity is also expressed in the contrast between the two parts that can be distinguished in the piece. Through increasingly clear pulsating elements, an ambivalence between harmony and melody arises, chords become fragments of melody, figures are swallowed by harmony.

Carola Bauckholt (b 1959) Luftwurzeln for flute, clarinet, viola and cello During the 2000s, Carola Bauckholt became one of the big names as well as a composer and teacher with guest laureates from Oslo to Chile and with several composition prizes on the shelf. The music explores the borderland between musical theatre, performance art and concert music. In Luftwurzeln, the noise-derived, sound-associating music carries a strong visual mark, not through what happens on stage, but in the listening. The music explores various tremolating, vibrating and air-like sounds and the ear slowly begins to hear the gestures almost as choreographic elements. A repetitive gesture is imitated in instrument after instrument, slowly transforming until suddenly, as if by chance, it changes direction - like a sudden gust of wind, the music is carried from place to place in an imaginary landscape.

Stuart Saunders Smith (1948–2024) In Common In common (1991) by the recently deceased composer Saunders Smith was performed by Gageego! at their very first concert, 23 March 1995 at Kronhuset. Since then, his music has periodically sounded in Gothenburg and the surrounding area during Gageego!'s concerts. Saunders Smith's music often has the percussion at the center, so also in In Common. His music is characterized by an eclectic and esoteric vein with often surprising elements. About the short and dense work In Common, Saunders Smith quotes two complementary sentences: "Music is one of our little dances with death in which we lead.” and "Music is one of our little dances with life where we follow." Anders Jonhäll

Esaias Järnegard (b. 1983) Tunnlar. Diken. Gravar (premiere) “Tunnels. Ditches. Graves is a composition that is as much mine as the memory of Gageego! A collection of phrases from meetings with these musicians since 2014. In the center moves a viola solo that carries excerpts and concert memories from the time when Johanna Persson in several of my works and other composers' music taught me how strings can sound. In the periphery, the woodwind parts of Ragnar Arnberg and Anders Jonhäll move like elusive shadows of both voices and lines. The hands mark the constant presence of the percussion. The rasping, down-tuned string is Johan Stern's thoughtful string movement. Surrounding all this is an echo of the past year's life. Nothing in Tunnlar. Diken. Gravar is really a homage, but the way I built the 7 interwoven sets bears traces that point in several directions. In a note quite late in the composition process it says 23, 29, 21, 7 and 41. The numbers mean little to the listening, but also mean everything. Thank you Gageego!” Esaias Järnegard

Per Mårtensson (b. 1967) Quartet The precision, virtuosity and sensitivity of Per Mårtensson's writing have always gone hand in hand with the ensemble's diligent exploration. The composer Hans Gefors has said the following about Mårtensson's quartet: "How do you create musical characters? Just like when assessing people - it is important to have a sharp eye. It is important to listen carefully! Concentration. Listen to both foreground and background; listen to both the individual instrument and the overall result; both be curious about the detail and keep the big picture in mind... Quartet has four movements, presents four characters. It is very quiet - then you get more details in the listening. And it is short, very short. Like seeing a person on the platform when the subway is leaving the station and seem to be facing someone's fate.” Anders Jonhäll

Djuro Zivkovic (b. 1975) Night Music In 2019, Gageego performed! Djuro Zivkovics On the guarding of the heart under the direction of Peter Eötvös. A memorable concert where every millimeter of Stenhammarsalen's podium was used. Tonight, the music is more chamber music where we get to hear a peculiar conversation between the tonal worlds of Zivkovic and Scriabin (1872–1915). Zivkovic says himself: "Night Music is inspired by one of the most beautiful short piano compositions, written by Alexander Scriabin after 1900. As I understand that all genius music can have new layers, I have used six pieces by Scriabin as background to a newly composed music and thus added to Scriabin an absurd imagination, alien passion and exotic illusions...The piano, however, should not be considered a solo instrument, but a distant sound, which comes from far away in the universe.” Anders Jonhäll

Cellist Johan Stern is principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and teaches cello, chamber music and orchestral playing at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and at the Juilliard School in New York. As a member of Gageego!, the Gothenburg Ensemble for New Music, he has premiered several solo works by our leading Nordic composers. Johan Stern has participated in a number of international festivals and as a soloist and chamber musician has performed with figures such as Bobby McFerrin, Edward Gardner, Petri Sakari, Kristjan Järvi, Daniel Müller-Schott and Levon Chilingirian. During his studies at Juilliard, he had the privilege of collaborating with several internationally renowned musical figures, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composers Elliott Carter and John Cage.