Ishaón, the Angel in the Golden Garden

op. 111, 2025

I. The Entrance, II. The Prayer, III. The Path, IV. The Shadows, V. The Tree, VI. The Full Moon, VII. The Bird, VIII. The Mirror, IX. The Ritual, X. The Transition, XI. The Gate

Viola Concerto
Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2. – 4.3.3.1., Harp, Timpani, 3 Percussion, Strings

Duration: 35 min.

First Commissioner:
Bremer Philharmoniker, as part of Konstantia Gourzi’s Composer-in-Residence year
2025–2026
Dedication:
For Nils Mönkemeyer

World premiere: February 1, 2026, Die Glocke, Bremen, Germany
Additional performance: February 2, 2026, Die Glocke, Bremen
Orchestra: Bremer Philharmoniker
Soloist: Nils Mönkemeyer
Conductor: Jonathan Bloxham

Publisher: Universal Edition

Composer’s Notes

Ishaón, the Angel in the Golden Garden – Eleven Episodes for Viola and Orchestra belongs to a series of compositions in various instrumentations dedicated to angels. Angels created as images or sculptures by artist friends serve as inspirations – to give them sound, to bring them to life musically, and to stimulate reflection on the presence of angels in our lives. Most of the previous compositions in the Angel series are set within a garden, each of a specific colour. For me, the colour gold represents an ideal and pure state of the highest value.

The sculpture underlying this composition is the second in a series of angel sculptures by the artist Alexander Polzin. The name Ishaón is a combination of numbers and names invented by me.

The work was commissioned by the Bremer Philharmoniker as part of my year as Composer-in-Residence with the orchestra and is dedicated to Nils Mönkemeyer, with whom I have a long-standing friendship. The second commissioner of the composition is the State Orchestra (KOA) of my hometown, Athens.

The composition consists of eleven episodes, conceived dramaturgically as parts of a larger narrative. Although they differ in sound and character, they are held together by an overarching dramatic thread. Each episode possesses its own musical character, is self-contained, and aims to make certain processes and sonic elements perceptible.
Commonality, discovery, experience, perception, and transformation were central themes during the compositional process: How can a “space” be created that is closed in itself and at the same time allows us to discover, through sound, situations that would otherwise remain inaccessible?

The solo part takes on a protagonistic role and remains in constant dialogue with the
orchestra – often in a pattern of action and reaction. Each episode creates its own tension

through rhythms, melodies, and sonic textures, like a tale seen through the eyes of an
observer.

The titles of the eleven episodes— I. The Entrance, II. The Prayer, III. The Path, IV. The Shadows, V. The Tree, VI. The Full Moon, VII. The Bird, VIII. The Mirror, IX. The Ritual, X. The Transition, XI. The Gate— point to an inner process, to discoveries that one might make in nature or in one’s own “garden” of consciousness. At the same time, they outline the course of an imaginary story, an inner dialogue between the viola and the orchestra.

Angel sculpture: Alexander Polzin
shooting clouds II, bronze gold plated 2022