The Project “Insect Hotel” is not limited to just one topic. In a sense, it covers four different areas. In addition to the central aspect of contemporary music, which, as the art of setting music, goes hand in hand with poetics and literature, it is also about the world of insects. A game developed very early on that involved choosing a different language for each setting, for each number in the cycle.
Given the high number of languages worldwide, the cycle turns out to be rather modest. With twenty-four text settings, each in a different language, there is no attempt to be complete. Rather, it is a collection of scores and texts with the central theme of "insects", with many variants that illuminate the species "insect" from different perspectives.
The project takes us through a world where languages and insect species are rapidly becoming extinct. It is an adventure trip with countless diary entries and numerous overnight stays in the insect hotel, where you can listen to the rustling of the insects.
The 116-page booklet (in German, English and French versions) contains all the texts set to music in all 24 languages with the respective translations.
The composer Claude Lenners (*1956) studied at the conservatories of Luxembourg and Strasbourg and musicology at the University of Human Sciences II in Strasbourg. His catalog of works includes a variety of chamber music scores, symphonic works and several Stage works. He is the founder of the rainy days festival, of which he was artistic director until 2005, the founder of the asbl Noise Watchers Unlimited and the electronic music class at the Luxembourg City Conservatory.
The Ensemble Noise Watchers Unlimited is based in Luxembourg and has made it its mission to perform new and current works of contemporary music. It usually plays in small chamber music ensembles and regularly performs at the Luxembourg Philharmonic's annual rainy days festival.