Concert: Konstantin Dupelius

Musical expression of Konstantin Dupelius is based on classical music and his piano education and is stylistically determined by the need to search for different sound narratives. From the very beginning, it becomes clear to the listener how the composer explores new ways of shaping the melody, while moving in the most diverse genres ranging from classical to electronic music. In this wide range, Dupelius playfully improvises with the structure of theater music and the logic of the sound environment, including the music systems in the Balkans and East Africa, where he occasionally resides. Although focused on development and innovation, Dupelius’s sensibility is anchored in the heritage of classical music, and the final artistic product is a combination of traditional and modern.

Konstantin Dupelius’s musical DNA encompasses the need to create a unique synthesis based on modernity through variety and cultural diversity. Using artistic tools and music instruments such as piano, synthesizer, computer, electric keyboard and voice, the author captures a wide range of emotional states. These include the melancholy of the lonely individual of the modern world, the concern of an ordinary man with the burning questions of today, reflections on social injustice, ecological threats, and wars. Dupelius’s musical compositions shape and sublimate everything that determines the socio-political reality of the shaken world, viewed through the prism of its unsustainability.

His latest album Knowledge (Ragusa Records, 2023) is the result of layered and consistent research of sound and composition within the avant-garde classics. Based on the organic essence of man’s connection with nature, Knowledge is interwoven with the sensibility of social responsibility and political awareness of the modern individual today. With its ten compositions, Knowledge is a product that goes beyond the usual, i.e. passive listening experience, and gives space a new meaning.

Konstantin Dupelius regularly collaborates on theater pieces and festival productions such as Salzburger Festspiele or Podium Esslingen. He is a member of the duet OMG Schubert and the collective The Gray Stories, and joins forces with the Sarajevo band Basheskia & Edward EQ. His album Knowledge features an introverted but powerful composition called Lacrimosa for Sarajevo, where Nedim Zlatar plays the drums. Referring to Mozart, Dupelius wanted to underline his personal experience and connection with Sarajevo, “a city that has always been a symbol of coexistence of different cultures from which it draws incredible cultural wealth and creativity.” Nedim Zlatar, the pioneer of electronic music in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will make a guest appearance at Konstantin Dupelius’s concert at KRAK.