Chromatic Circles - Cycle 1 by Tony Wagner is out now - listen via link in bio
Chromatic Circles - Cycle 1 was presented as Tony Wagner’s final work at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna on January 15th 2026 at the Academy’s Prospekthof in Vienna.
The subject of Chromatic Circles is a sonic topography, drawn through the systematic and chromatic shifting of four cello voices, unfolding a dense fabric of harmonies, dissonances and floating overtones. The four voices build clusters, rise and fall in half-step increments, cross and intertwine, and ultimately return to the starting points of the other voices.
Several graphic scores were developed specifically for this piece. Their systems consists of concentric circles, made up of the five staff lines of classical musical notation or circling bars referencing digital notation techniques. The notes orbit like planets around an imaginary center, rising and falling in half-step increments. The score is designed so that the composition can potentially be played infinitely and is to be read and deciphered like a map of land or stars.
The focus of the performance and the live sound is the exploration of a collective, site-specific Deep Listening, in which the architectural resonance space is understood as an integral, co-composing actor. The space chosen is utilized not only for its natural reverberation and unique acoustics but also for parts of its circular architecture. Audience, performers, and space together form a collective Listening Entity.
Performers
Emil Huppenkothen
@schlingelemil
Ahoo Maher
@diary_ahoo
Tony Wagner
@tonyxwagner
Pheno Wischer
@phiepmatz3000
Recording and live mix by Heidi Bobal
@heidibobal
Video documentation by Ana Paula Fabro Franco
@extrapirate
Video edit by Lukas Wandl
@wandlinger
Photo documentation by Nurith Wagner-Strauss
@nurithphotography
Special thanks to
Melissa Antunes de Menezes, Karolina Preuschl, Lena Kuzmich, Valentino Skarwan, Georg Wagner, Hyeji Nam, Florian Wagner, Nurith Wagner-Strauss, Jan Wagner, Hannah Wagner, Elisabeth Schack, Simone Engländer, Tina Bauer, Agata Madjeska, Saskia Te Nicklin, Michael Höpfner, Sabine Marte, Lukas Froschauer, Manuel Gonzalez, Leo