Threnody by I Solisti & Spectra
20.10.2024 Festival 20.21
STUK, Leuven (B)
With the death of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho the music world lost one of the great figureheads of her generation. Threnody -as the name suggests- is about this farewell. It originally started as a tribute to Saariaho who was also for Annelies Van Parys an important example as a leading lady composer. The piece thus inscribes itself is in a long tradition of Déplorations like the very famous “Nymphes des bois” (Déploration sur la mort d’Ockeghem) by Josquin Desprez. Van Parys used several quotes from his Déploration that on some instances in the piece is shimmering through like a distant and fragile echo of the past. While writing the piece, she got confronted with another, much closer loss, which reflects in the echo of the quote “vous avez perdu votre bon père”.
Next to Threnody of Van Parys, there is music of Saariaho, Venegas and Jacobs.
Co-production November Music
As part of Sounds Now
Threnody - world première
31.05.2024 De Bijloke
Gent (B)
Saariaho uses beautiful imagery to describe her composition 'Solar': the basic idea seems like a sounding celestial body that forces the harmony gain and again back to its starting point, as if the music followed the laws of gravity. In 'Amers' (after the French for navigation points at sea), she paints the picture of a sailing boat trying to hold its course in defiance of the waves. Annelies Van Parys' world premiere Threnody adds a contemporary star to this sparkling concert.
Interview with composer Annelies Van Parys (in Dutch)
Ensemble: I SOLISTI en SPECTRA
Conductor: Filip Rathé
Soloist: Séverine Ballon, cello
World premiere EUtopia by the European Union Youth Orchestra
08.05.2024 - 10.05.2024 Concertgebouw Brugge, BOZAR, Palais des Beaux-Arts
Brugge, Brussel & Charleroi
Elisabeth laureates join Europe’s most energetic orchestra.
Music connects people and nowhere is that more true than at the European Union Youth Orchestra. Every year, the very best young musicians gather there to learn, work and enjoy. The result is their legendary concerts. For this tour, three revelations from the Elisabeth Competition will join the orchestra as soloists. And before French conductor Alexandre Bloch unleashes a fiery Bolero, we get to hear the brand new work EUtopia by Annelies Van Parys.
About EUtopia
"Europe: from ideal to utopia? That's pretty much the arch EUTOPIA casts. Conceived in one movement, it begins brightly and hopefully – like the European Idea - with harmonic, natural, high orchestral spectra. There is also a nod to dodecaphony, the twelve-tone system that underpinned the serialism that symbolised renewal just after World War II: Europe was the project of renewal to ensure that we could live in peace and freedom.
But when I began writing the work in the summer of 2023, deals were being made to keep people outside our European borders, in ways I felt were no longer consistent with European values. This has had repercussions in the music: after the carefree beginning, distortion and noises enter the pure sounds. The tension rises, the texture becomes denser, and finally the sound mass culminates in the strokes of a bell. These quote Beethoven's Alle Menschen werden Brüder, like a kind of broad cantus firmus in a long, slowing time-stretch. Firstly, the original is heard, then repeated in the minor. Perhaps it carries somewhere within it a (forlorn) hope: Europe was not quite utopic after all, but music continues the message of An die Freude."- Annelies Van Parys 2024
08.05.2024 - 20:00
Concertgebouw Brugge
Tickets
09.05.2024 - 20:00
Bozar Brussels
Tickets
10.05.2024 - 20:00
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi
Tickets
Medea / They Have Waited Long Enough
21.03.2024 Gewandhaus Leipzig, Mendelssohn-Saal
Leipzig (D)
Composers Annelies Van Parys, Aftab Darvishi and Calliope Tsoupaki create new, contemporary sounds for three women who have had to wait in the wings of the great Greek myths far too long. They shine a new light on these women’s stories, add a new nuance to them and infuse them with new power. Is Medea a revengeful monster or a mother consumed with compassion? Is Circe an evil witch or a heroine filled with great humanity? And what about Penelope’s so-called helpless waiting?
Author Gaea Schoeters found the words that do these women justice: moving yet liberating. Soprano Katharine Dain sings them to life accompanied by the all-female Ragazze Quartet. Three colorful soloists engage in an intense dialogue on klarinet, duduk and canun.
"Every time we play this program, something magical happens on stage. The stories of three Greek heroines, retold by three female composers. In this concert we are complemented by the warm sounds of duduk, clarinet and canun, plus one of our favorite singers Katharine Dain." — RAGAZZE QUARTET
Annelies Van Parys
Medea (for soprano, clarinet in bes and string quartet)
text Gaea Schoeters
translation Rona Kennedy
concept Tamar Brüggemann, Wonderfeel
coproduction Lunalia, Wonderfeel, Antwerp Liedfest, Mittelfest, November Music, Oranjewoud Festival
In the framework of alles ausser flach, during the Leipziger Buchmesse
Notwehr - Belgian première
19.03.2024 Concertgebouw Brugge
Brugge (B)
Volver meets Hiroshima mon Amour in this moving story of injustice and hope.
Two women involuntarily share a prison cell: a young activist who was arrested after an illegal protest and a working-class woman who murdered her boyfriend. Their forced togetherness starts tensely, but as the nights go by, they share their fears and hopes. Notwehr brings together old and new music: a cycle of baroque madrigals by Banchieri provides a sort of echo of the past and of the outside world and intertwines with the new music of Annelies Van Parys.
A commission of La Biënnale di Venezia, in co-production with Studio Minailo, HERMESensemble & Muziektheater Transparant.
Dedicated to Maria Kalesnikava & all other brave women who lost their freedom fighting for a better world.
Annelies Van Parys & Adriano Banchieri - music
Sjaron Minailo - director
Raphael René Jacobs - director’s assistant
Gaea Schoeters - libretto
Sjaron Minailo & Maarten Warmerdam - scenography
Patricia Hofstede - costume design
Johanna Zimmer & Els Mondelaers - soprano & mezzosoprano
HERMESensemble - ensemble
B’Rock Vocal Consort - choir
Annelies Van Parys
Concertgebouw Brugge
Boze Bejaarden
07.10.2023 De Grote Post
Oostende (B)
An 8-part tragicomic operetta radio play set in and around a retirement home. Enraged Elderly is a comedy of errors riddled with miscommunications as well as romantic, saccharine and warm moments. Simultaneously, as befits an operetta, it is sharply critical of how we deal with health care and with the elderly.
Having published an online radio play, the WUNDERBAUM collective presents an in-person version with eight actors, four musicians, two singers, one conductor and a radio-play specialist live on stage. Annelies Verbeke and Gaea Schoeters wrote the texts. Annelies Van Parys composed new music and arranged arias from the classical operetta repertoire.
TSUNAMI by SONORO QUARTET
15.10.2023 - 17.05.2024 Various locations
On tour
One of the Belgian string quartets causing a furore is undoubtedly the Sonoro Quartet. Now their international dream is also coming true. Within the European Concert Hall Organisation, they were chosen as Rising Stars and will represent BOZAR in no less than 16 European concert halls during the ‘23-‘24 season. Their luggage will also contain a token from one of our most distinguished Belgian composers, Annelies Van Parys. She wrote the work Tsunami especially for this tour.
About Tsunami
"The piece is inspired by the marvelous call of the Japanese Cicadas. Their sound struck me when I was walking through the parcs in Tokyo during my residency at the TOKAS Tokyo Arts and Space. Not only their voicing, but also their rhythm as well as the strength of their call was extraordinary to my ears and I immediately knew I would use them for a string piece. When the request for Sonoro Quartet came a few weeks later, I gladly accepted because I knew this would be the perfect ensemble for my idea. So the Tsunami here is not one of water but one of Cicadas…" - Annelies Van Parys
10.11.2023 - 19:30
Muziekverein Vienna
Tickets
12.11.2023 - 17:30
Müpa Budapest
Tickets
26.11.2023 - 18:00
Philharmonie Cologne
Tickets
Shades of Light selected for the 2023 ISCM World New Music Days in South Africa
24.11.2023 - 03.12.2023 2023 ISCM World New Music Days
South Africa
ISCM South Africa (NewMusicSA), the organizer of the 2023 ISCM World New Music Days, has announced the works that have been selected for performance from the call for scores.
From the Flemish entry for ISCM's Call for Works, the international selection committee chose Shades of Light by Annelies Van Parys.
Statement from the jury:
"How Annelies Van Parys continues to discover new paths and worlds in her musical language is greatly admired. In Shades of Light, the cello and electronics fuse together very beautifully. With limited material, a lot happens in this composition."
Shades of Light was created by Séverine Ballon during the previous edition of Transit
Shades of Light will be performed during the 2023 ISCM World New Music Days in South Africa (24 November – 3 December 2023), the first ISCM festival ever held on the African continent.
Listen to Eco... del vuoto
30.06.2023 Apple Music Classical
New release
Eco... del vuoto (16')
2019
Annelies Van Parys honours her former teacher Luc Brewaeys, who died far too young, with a work commissioned by the Concertgebouworkest. Her astounding style makes Van Parys a totally original voice in contemporary music.
The world premiere recording of Eco... del vuoto by Annelies Van Parys is now available on Apple Music Classical in hi-res stereo and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos (from July 28 in stereo only on other platforms).
Written for & performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, conductor Kristiina Poska.
The app can be downloaded from the App Store: https://apple.co/3TFdbqD and Android’s Google Play: http://bitly.ws/IrcL
PREY
31.03.2023 Theater Rotterdam
Rotterdam (NL)
PREY is a new music theatre production by Kris Verdonck / A Two Dogs Company and Muziektheater Transparant with original music by Annelies Van Parys, in co-production with Klarafestival and Theater Rotterdam and in collaboration with Ictus ensemble.
“We are food” (Val Plumwood)
A new humility
How can we change the way we view being human from a radical ecological perspective? What stories help us to better understand the disruptions caused by the climate crisis? These questions are at the heart of PREY. And perhaps our own mortality and vulnerability provide a good starting point for the search for an answer.
PREY consists of three solos by three generations of women. Each has its own focus: text/language, song/music and dance/performance. With every solo, the tension between the human and the landscape, performer and scenography, becomes more intense and intimate. The essence of PREY is finding solace in the frightening fact that we too are food, that we too belong to an ecological cycle of life and death.
Kris Verdonck has gathered an extraordinary group of people around him for this performance: composer Annelies Van Parys, ICTUS Ensemble, actress Katelijne Damen, singer Anna Clare Hauf and dancer Mooni Van Tichel. Verdonck is responsible for the scenography, a landscape in which the performers increasingly disappear and are swallowed up.
We are all food.
Interview with Kris Verdonck and Annelies Van Parys
PREY - première
25.03.2023 - 26.03.2023 Théâtre Varia
Brussels (B)
PREY is a new music theatre production by Kris Verdonck / A Two Dogs Company, in co-production with Muziektheater Transparant and in collaboration with ICTUS Ensemble.
Annelies Van Parys is writing a new composition.
“We are food” (Val Plumwood)
A new humility
How can we change the way we view being human from a radical ecological perspective? What stories help us to better understand the disruptions caused by the climate crisis? These questions are at the heart of PREY. And perhaps our own mortality and vulnerability provide a good starting point for the search for an answer.
PREY will consist of three solos by three generations of women. Each has its own focus: text/language, song/music and dance/performance. With every solo, the tension between the human and the landscape, performer and scenography, becomes more intense and intimate. The essence of PREY is finding solace in the frightening fact that we too are food, that we too belong to an ecological cycle of life and death.
Kris Verdonck has gathered an extraordinary group of people around him for this performance: composer Annelies Van Parys, ICTUS Ensemble, actress Katelijne Damen, singer Anna Clare Hauf and dancer Mooni Van Tichel. Verdonck is responsible for the scenography, a multimedia landscape in which the performers increasingly disappear and are swallowed up.
The premiere is scheduled for 25-26 March 2023 at Théâtre Varia as part of the Klarafestival in Brussels.
We are all food.
Interview with Kris Verdonck and Annelies Van Parys
Shades of Light (world première)
30.10.2022 - 23.11.2022 Transit Festival & Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Leuven (B) / Huddersfield (UK)
That Séverine Ballon is one of today’s most adventurous cellists is evident from this ambitious programme. Along with the electronics wizards of Centre Henri Pousseur, she’ll perform three brand-new works written for her many and varied talents. Her talent as a composer will also be showcased along with works by Annelies Van Parys and Sam Hayden.
The new composition Shades of Light by Annelies Van Parys is a reflection on the relationship between humans and the digital world. About how digital elements penetrate people's lives, facilitate them, change them and finally take over. This acquisition heralds a new era - for better or worse.
Annelies Van Parys — world premiere Shades of Light
Sam Hayden — world premiere
Séverine Ballon — world premiere
Centre Henri Pousseur & Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival — co-production
30.10.2022 - 17:30
Transit Festival
23.11.2022 - 13:00
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
Notwehr at Biennale Musica 2022
24.09.2022 La Biennale di Venezia
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venezia (IT)
NOTWEHR
What is freedom? And what are you willing to sacrifice it for?
During an illegal protest action, a young activist is arrested. She is locked up for the night together with an older barmaid, who’s been accused of killing her husband. The two women unwillingly share the small prison cell: their forced togetherness starts out on a tense note, but as time passes they open up to each other. First reluctantly and uneasily, then more intimately, they share their fears and hopes. Sheltered by the night, they look back on their lives, and wonder what freedom really is and what they are willing to risk it for. And if the end justifies the means, even if that means breaking the law. Where at first they have no understanding at all for each others actions, they soon find out they have more in common than expected. Their encounter, confined in time and place by their imprisonment, becomes an internal journey that will change them both.
Just like in Adriano Banchieri’s (1605/1623) madrigal cycle Barca di Venetia per Padova (two) people with a very different social background are brought together by coincidence — or is it fate? — and forced to spend a certain amount of time together in a limited space. And just like Banchieri’s travellers, these two women are ‘in the same boat’... Composer Annelies Van Parys’ music enters into dialogue with the Banchieri madrigals, as librettist Gaea Schoeters weaves the old texts into the new libretto and the vocal ensemble paints a picture of the events that led up to incarceration of both women. The two soloists share their thoughts and feelings not only with each other, but also with the audience, as they comment on their own situation — thus turning Notwehr into a performance that is both playful and touching, light and dark. Staged by Sjaron Minailo.
Chamber Opera (50′)
Concept & creation:
Annelies Van Parys — music
Gaea Schoeters — libretto
Sjaron Minailo — stage
A commission of La Biënnale di Venezia, in co-production with Studio Minailo, Hermes Ensemble & Muziektheater Transparant.
Dedicated to Maria Kalesnikava & all other brave women who lost their freedom fighting for a better world.
PREMIERE
SOLD OUT / UITVERKOCHT
MEDEA / They Have Waited Long Enough
08.11.2022 - 11.11.2022 TivoliVredenburg, November Music & St John’s Smith Square
Utrecht (NL), 's-Hertogenbosch (NL) & London (UK)
Composers Annelies Van Parys, Aftab Darvishi and Calliope Tsoupaki create new, contemporary sounds for three women who have had to wait in the wings of the great Greek myths far too long. They shine a new light on these women’s stories, add a new nuance to them and infuse them with new power. Is Medea a revengeful monster or a mother consumed with compassion? Is Circe an evil witch or a heroine filled with great humanity? And what about Penelope’s so-called helpless waiting?
Author Gaea Schoeters found the words that do these women justice: moving yet liberating. Soprano Katharine Dain sings them to life accompanied by the all-female Ragazze Quartet. Three colorful soloists engage in an intense dialogue on clarinet, duduk and canun.
Natalie Haynes, classicist and compelling storyteller, provides the three characters with an introduction.
"Every time we play this program, something magical happens on stage. The stories of three Greek heroines, retold by three female composers. In this concert we are complemented by the warm sounds of duduk, clarinet and canun, plus one of our favorite singers Katharine Dain." — RAGAZZE QUARTET
Tamar Brüggemann, Wonderfeel — concept
Lunalia, Wonderfeel, Antwerp Liedfest, Mittelfest, November Music, Oranjewoud Festival — co-production
08.11.2022 - 20:00
TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht (NL)
09.11.2022 - 20:45
November Music, 's-Hertogenbosch (NL)
11.11.2022 - 19:30
St John’s Smith Square, London (UK)
They Have Waited Long Enough - MEDEA
05.06.2022 Oranjewoud Festival
Heerenveen (NL)
Composers Annelies Van Parys, Aftab Darvishi and Calliope Tsoupaki create new, contemporary sounds for three women who have had to wait in the wings of the great Greek myths far too long. They shine a new light on these women’s stories, add a new nuance to them and infuse them with new power. Is Medea a revengeful monster or a mother consumed with compassion? Is Circe an evil witch or a heroine filled with great humanity? And what about Penelope’s so-called helpless waiting?
Author Gaea Schoeters found the words that do these women justice: moving yet liberating. Soprano Katharine Dain sings them to life. Three colourful soloists enter into an intense dialogue on clarinet, duduk and qanun. British stand-up classicist and captivating storyteller Natalie Haynes provides an introduction for the three characters.
Oranjewoud Festival - Tickets
News & Agenda May - June 2022
27.05.2022 - 31.07.2022 Various Locations
Various cities
News & Agenda May - June 2022
World Première Pianoconcerto by Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent & Koningin Elisabethzaal - MEDEA (organ version) by Helikon Quartet - They Have Waited Long Enough at Oranjewoud Festival - Time Machine by EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble at Linos Festival - Residency at Tokyo Arts and Space トーキョーアーツアンドスペース
Newsletter Annelies Van Parys
22.02.2022 - 28.05.2022 Various Locations
B & NL
Annelies Van Parys / News & Agenda February - March 2022
IVO VAN HOVE / MUZIEKTHEATER TRANSPARANT // DAGBOEK VAN EEN VERDWENENE at DE SINGEL International Arts Centre, Antwerp (B) - CHANTS D'AUVERGNE | OXALYS at Cultuurcentrum Ter Dilft, Bornem (B) - World Creation: ECO... DEL VUOTO (in memoriam Luc Brewaeys) by Concertgebouworkest at Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam (NL) - World Creation: Pianoconcerto by Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at Muziekcentrum De Bijloke Gent & Koningin Elisabethzaal, Antwerp (B) - Article in de lage landen / the low countries
COMPOSER ANNELIES VAN PARYS IS IN LOVE WITH THE VERY ESSENCE OF SOUND
22.01.2022 the low countries
website
Whether it’s chamber opera, music theatre, compositions for orchestra, choir or solo instruments, Annelies Van Parys has mastered it all. The Flemish composer, winner of numerous awards, is now one of the most sought-after contemporary composers in Europe. So what makes her talent so unique?
Europalia Trains & Tracks: Lost & Found
15.11.2021 - 03.12.2021 Central Station
Brussels & Antwerp (B)
The history of our continent is largely the outcome of the overwhelming need of human beings to travel and the perpetual movement it generates. As vessels of this human movement, train stations are home to the many stories brought about by the flows of travellers that pass through them and the small and large events that take place there. Lost & Found aims to establish a dialogue between the train stations and the variety of local stories that live there - from intimately personal accounts to public matters. Mini operas developed over the course of several days will transform these stories into audio, visual and kinetic experiences for passers-by and travellers.
For one week, the audience will be able to not only witness the opera's creation, but they will also be able to participate in it. A local team of artists (librettists, composers, dramaturges) will collect local stories from passers-by and translate them into operas. The artists will work together in a creative space - a transparent cube installed inside the train station - from which they will be able to observe what is happening outside and through which passers-by will be able to witness the creative process in real time. Each day, a performance based on the interactions of that day will be put on. The final composition will bring together these daily operas and take the form of an extended performance through which musicians and singers will share the result of this experience.
The musical director of this project is Benjamin Haemhouts, artistic director of the Belgian chamber orchestra Casco Phil. The stage crew is led by the international theatre production company Muziektheater Transparant. In co-production with Perpodium. Among the selected artists are Annelies Van Parys (composer), Gaea Schoeters (librettist) and Fanny Gilbert-Collet (director).
More Info:
Casco Phil
Muziektheater Transparant
EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS
Holle Haven - Première
28.08.2021 - 29.08.2021 O. Festival, Rotterdam (NL)
Atelier Van Lieshout
Dutch première
O. Festival, Rotterdam (NL)
28 & 29 August 2021
Several times a day
Atelier Van Lieshout, Rotterdam (NL)
Belgian première
1 September 2021
20:00
De Studio, Antwerpen (BE)
INSPIRATUM
2 September 2021
20:00
Axel Vervoordt, Wijnegem (BE)
TICKETS
O. Festival
De Studio
Tristan and Isolde at Folkoperan
14.10.2020 - 31.10.2020 Folkoperan
Stockholm (SE)
Probably Wagner’s most beautiful and most sensuous composition, Tristan and Isolde, will premiere at Folkoperan, Stockholm (SE) on the 14th and 15th of October 2020. Linus Tunström will make his directing debut on the opera stage with this production, Wagner’s epoch-defining opera whose urgent tones propel a drama as powerful as the urgency of the love it describes.
Marit Strindlund's musical concept aim to present a sonorous, younger, warm and open sound world, with a lightness of touch. This allows us to use young but large voices., which all have access to both lyrical as well as dramatic colours. To make this happen Folkoperan has commissioned a creative orchestra arrangement, for 25 musicians, made by composer Annelies van Parys.
USHER in Antwerp, Ghent & Rotterdam
08.05.2020 - 27.05.2020 Various locations
BE & NL
- POSTPONED - New dates will follow
Since her 2015 opera "Private View" based on an Alfred Hitchcock film, if not earlier, the Belgian Annelies Van Parys has established her reputation as one of the most innovative composers of contemporary musical theatre. Her work is distinguished by a keen interest in the facets of the human singing voice as well as an idiosyncratic approach to instrumentation. Starting with the material of the uncompleted opera – Debussy left behind several libretto drafts, a musical fragment of about 20 minutes and some sketches – Van Parys develops in USHER a chamber music theatre that probes the category of the uncanny in a specific musical and theatrical way.
In January 2020 USHER is revived by the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and will performed at Opera Vlaanderen in Antwerp & Ghent in May and during Operadagen Rotterdam 2020.
Music Annelies Van Parys / Claude Debussy
Text Gaea Schoeters / Claude Debussy based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
Musical Director Marit Strindlund Director, set designer, light Philippe Quesne Dramaturgy Roman Reeger Roderick Usher Ola Eliasson L'ami Vincenzo Neri Le médecin Daniel Arnaldos Lady Madeline Alexandra Büchel & Symfonisch Orkest Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
Commissioned by Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and Folkoperan Stockholm in co-production with Muziektheater Transparant (B), Opera Vlaanderen (B) and Nanterre - Amandiers centre dramatique national (F).
- 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17/05/2020 Opera Vlaanderen, Antwerp & Ghent (BE)
- 27/05/2020 Operadagen Rotterdam (NL)
USHER
16.01.2020 - 26.12.2019 Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Berlin (D)
'The result is fantastic… Everything is simply right in this production: the songs, the claustrophobic notes from the orchestra, the bleak set design and the special effects with smoke and lightning strikes that reinforce the fall of the house on many levels…”/Der Tagesspiegel
Since her 2015 opera "Private View" based on an Alfred Hitchcock film, if not earlier, the Belgian Annelies Van Parys has established her reputation as one of the most innovative composers of contemporary musical theatre. Her work is distinguished by a keen interest in the facets of the human singing voice as well as an idiosyncratic approach to instrumentation. Starting with the material of the uncompleted opera – Debussy left behind several libretto drafts, a musical fragment of about 20 minutes and some sketches – Van Parys develops in "Usher" a chamber music theatre that probes the category of the uncanny in a specific musical and theatrical way.
Music Annelies Van Parys / Claude Debussy
Text Gaea Schoeters / Claude Debussy based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
Musical Director Marit Strindlund Director, set designer, light Philippe Quesne Dramaturgy Roman Reeger Roderick Usher David Oštrek L'ami Martin Gerke Le médecin Dominic Kraemer Lady Madeline Ruth Rosenfeld & Musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin
Commissioned by Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and Folkoperan Stockholm in co-production with Muziektheater Transparant (B), Opera Vlaanderen (B) and Nanterre - Amandiers centre dramatique national (F).
DIARY OF ONE WHO DISAPPEARED at ROYAL OPERA HOUSE LONDON
05.06.2019 - 08.06.2019 ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
London (UK)
Leoš Janaček wrote a song cycle in 22 scenes about a loving village boy. Annelies Van Parys writes an answer to this gripping story. Ivo Van Hove directs.
Produced by Muziektheater Transparant, co-produced by Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Klarafestival, De Munt/La Monnaie, Kaaitheater, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and Opera Days Rotterdam.
Tickets: https://www.roh.org.uk
ANNELIES VAN PARYS RECIEVES THE KLARA FOR BEST COMPOSER AND FOR MUSIC PERSONALITY OF 2018
22.03.2019 Klarafestival
Flagey, Brussels (B)
On Friday, March 22, 2019, The Klara’s - Classical Music Awards were awarded for the 9th time.
Annelies Van Parys receives The Klara for Best Composer ánd Music Personality of 2018 from Klara manager Chantal Pattyn.
SPECTRAL MUSIC - LECTURE-PERFORMANCE BY ANNELIES VAN PARYS & GOEYVAERTS TRIO
03.04.2019 Concertgebouw Brugge
Brugge (B)
For centuries, composers searched the sonorous world for unknown and untouched territory. 'Spectral' composers explored sound itself, examining every possible gradation of pitch and timbre: not just high and low, and long and short, but also deep, into and beyond the core... Annelies Van Parys is such a spectral composer. In this lecture-performance – together with musicologist Klaas Coulembier and the Goeyvaerts Trio– she reveals the secrets of her compositions.
USHER
14.02.2019 - 10.03.2019 Folkoperan
Stockholm (SE)
The unfinished opera USHER by Claude Debussy has now been completed by Belgian composer Annelies Van Parys. It was commissioned by Folkoperan and Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, where it premiered on October 12th. The production will open at Folkoperan with a Swedish cast on February 14th, 2019.
https://www.anneliesvanparys.be/newsletters/13/
https://www.folkoperan.se/english/usher
Photo ©Mats Bäcker
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An Archive of Love
21.07.2018 Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Stuttgart (DE)
Nothing is more unique than love. But... Claudio Monteverdi was already hunting Amor in Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, Claude Vivier was frolicking with Eros in his Love Songs, and José Sanchez-Verdu captured Thanatos – courier of the underworld – in Scriptura Antigua. In Annelies Van Parys' Ah, cette fable an angel gets entangled in an earthly love. As all these little tragedies unfold, the collective archive of love resonates more and more. Echoes attach themselves to these new stories and push them in fresh directions.
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
soprano: Johanna Zimmer
soprano: Susanne Leitz-Lorey
mezzo: Truike van der Poel
tenor: Martin Nagy
baritone: Guillermo Anzorena
bass: Andreas Fischer
composition: Annelies Van Parys, José Sanchez-Verdu, Claude Vivier, Claudio Monteverdi a.o. musical arrangements: Annelies Van Parys concept & musical/textual dramaturgy: Gaea Schoeters stage direction: Gable Roelofsen & Romy Roelofsen (Het Geluid Maastricht) set design: Davy Van Gerven production: Musik der Jahrhunderte & Het Geluid Maastricht in cooperation with Concertgebouw Brugge
USHER WORLD PREMIERE AT STAATSOPER UNTER DEN LINDEN, BERLIN
12.10.2018 - 30.10.2018 Staatsoper Unter den Linden
Berlin (DE)
Since her 2015 opera "Private View" based on an Alfred Hitchcock film, if not earlier, the Belgian Annelies Van Parys has established her reputation as one of the most innovative composers of contemporary musical theatre. Her work is distinguished by a keen interest in the facets of the human singing voice as well as an idiosyncratic approach to instrumentation. Starting with the material of the uncompleted opera – Debussy left behind several libretto drafts, a musical fragment of about 20 minutes and some sketches – in "Usher" Van Parys develops a chamber music theatre that probes the category of the uncanny in a specific musical and theatrical way.
Music Annelies Van Parys / Claude Debussy
Text Gaea Schoeters / Claude Debussy based on "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe
Commissioned by Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Folkoperan Stockholm
Musical Director Marit Strindlund Director, set designer, light Philippe Quesne Dramaturgy Roman Reeger Roderick Usher David Oštrek L'ami Martin Gerke Le médecin to be confirmed Lady Madeline Ruth Rosenfeld Musicians of the Staatskapelle Berlin
12 - 30 October 2018
Staatsoper Unter den Linden
February 2019
Folkoperan Stockholm
A WAR REQUIEM - WORLD PREMIERE
08.11.2018 - 11.11.2018 Various Locations
Liège - Brugge - Antwerpen - Brussels (B)
One hundred years on from the Great War, the Belgian National Orchestra will perform the world premiere of A War Requiem by the Flemish composer Annelies Van Parys. The war rhetoric of the aggressor resounds in the German libretto. Together with Collegium Vocale Gent the Belgian soprano Sophie Karthäuser and the German baritone Thomas Bauer will give the lost generation of 1914-1918 a voice. The concert takes places as part of the national commemorative ceremonies for World War I in Belgium.
Annelies Van Parys A War Requiem (world premiere) with text by Dea Loher
Gustav Mahler Symphonie Nr. 5 in cis-moll
Belgian National Orchestra
Hugh Wolff conductor
Sophie Karthäuser soprano
Thomas Bauer bariton
& Collegium Vocale Gent
8 November 2018 - 20:00
Salle philharmonique Liège
9 November 2018 - 20:00
Concertgebouw Brugge
10 November 2018 - 20:00
De Singel Antwerpen
11 November 2018 - 15:00
BOZAR Brussels
An Archive of Love
19.12.2018 Concertgebouw Brugge
Brugge (B)
Nothing is more unique than love. But... Claudio Monteverdi was already hunting Amor in Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi, Claude Vivier was frolicking with Eros in his Love Songs, and José Sanchez-Verdu captured Thanatos – courier of the underworld – in Scriptura Antigua. In Annelies Van Parys' Ah, cette fable an angel gets entangled in an earthly love. As all these little tragedies unfold, the collective archive of love resonates more and more. Echoes attach themselves to these new stories and push them in fresh directions.
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
soprano: Johanna Zimmer
soprano: Susanne Leitz-Lorey
mezzo: Truike van der Poel
tenor: Martin Nagy
baritone: Guillermo Anzorena
bass: Andreas Fischer
composition: Annelies Van Parys, José Sanchez-Verdu, Claude Vivier, Claudio Monteverdi a.o. musical arrangements: Annelies Van Parys concept & musical/textual dramaturgy: Gaea Schoeters stage direction: Gable Roelofsen & Romy Roelofsen (Het Geluid Maastricht) set design: Davy Van Gerven production: Musik der Jahrhunderte & Het Geluid Maastricht in cooperation with Concertgebouw Brugge
Accentus - World Premiere
10.11.2018 - 13.11.2018 Various Locations
Rouen - Suresnes (F)
accentus returns to the great works of the a cappella repertory under the leadership of a recognised master of choral conducting: Marcus Creed. Figure humaine, written in 1943, was based on poems by Paul Éluard. A hymn to freedom, this cantata for mixed double choir is considered one of Poulenc’s masterpieces, and a milestone in the accentus story. Another major work in the choral repertory, Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir delivers a message of peace in which Gregorian inspiration and the influence of Bach combine in a dizzyingly rich language. This clarity is also a characteristic of the music of Annelies Van Parys who offers, here, a brand new work.
Programme
Francis Poulenc - Figure Humaine
Annelies Van Parys - world premiere
Franck Martin - Mass for Double Choir
10 November 2018 - 18:00
Chapelle Corneille, Rouen (F)
13 November 2018 - 21:00
Théatre Jean Vilar, Suresnes (F)
Annelies Van Parys: Season 2018 - 2019: What to look out for
21.07.2018 Newsletter
On Tour
Annelies Van Parys
Season 2018 - 2019: What to look out for
SONGS OF LOVE AND WAR / AN ARCHIVE OF LOVE
20.05.2018 - 21.05.2018 Operadagen Rotterdam
Noletloodsen Theater, Rotterdam (NL)
More than any generation before us, we are preoccupied with love. Is not it after all the most individual of all emotions? And are not our love stories, like we ourselves, utterly unique?
Imagine we are wrong. And love is not that personal at all, but the most common and universal of all emotions. The characters and the scenery change, but the narrative of love is as old as mankind itself. The Great and Ruinous lovers of old tales have shaped our subconscious image of Romantic Love. Their stories form a huge Archive, a Collective Consciousness of human love, containing all love songs ever written. Claudio Monteverdi hunted Amor down in his Madrigali Guerrieri and Amorosi , Claude Vivier tried to grasp the essence of Eros in his Love Songs , whereas José Sanchez-Verdu focusses on Thanatos in his Scriptura Antigua .
In Annelies Van Parys' song cycle Ah, cette Fable an angel is trapped by his mortal lover: if it stays on earth, it will die, if it takes wing, its lover will not survive. As this little tragedy unfolds, the Archive starts to resonate with it. Words, sounds, and feelings, trigger associations and memories of previous passions, both sacred and profane. Echoes and fragments of other, older love songs, interrupt it and complement it, thus pushing the story into new directions.
Read MoreUSHER SHORTLISTED FOR FEDORA - PRIZE FOR OPERA 2018
25.01.2018 Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin) and Folkoperan (Stockholm)
Berlin & Stockholm
Extremely proud to officially announce that Annelies Van Parys has the great honour to write a chamber opera for Staatsoper Unter den Linden (Berlin) and Folkoperan (Stockholm): USHER.
The opera will be departing from the unfinished opera "La chute de la maison Usher" of Debussy. Gaea Schoeters did a wonderful job on the libretto, the stage direction is in the hands of Philippe Quesne and... there is more good news!
We are on the shortlist for the Fedora Prize!
There also is a public award.
You can vote HERE
Het Kanaal
26.01.2018 - 07.02.2018 Ostade A'dam & NTGent
Amsterdam - Gent
26 & 27 January 2018
Ostade A'dam (NL)
6 & 7 February 2018
NTGent (BE)
On a beach near Calais a young refugee prepares himself to swim across the Channel, towards his new future. On the English side, on the chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, a (transsexual) woman bids life goodbye; in a few instants she will jump to her death.
The new text by author Gaea Schoeters is mirrored by recently recovered Shakespeare-text.
Composer Annelies Van Parys uses the Shakespeare-text as a libretto for a cycle of songs, which set the refugee theme in a historical perspective. The soprano is also the intermediary between past and present, audience and play; via other spoken Shakespeare fragments she sets the story in a different perspective, turning the personal stories into a sharp reflection of society, both in the 16th century and today – because the similarities are, alas, striking.
Text Gaea Schoeters Composition Annelies Van Parys Direction Gable Roelofsen & Romy Roelofsen / Het Geluid Maastricht
Actors Katelijne Verbeke & Adams Mensah
Vocalist Naomi Beeldens Lute/guitar Maarten Vandenbemden Scenography Anneleen De Causmaecker Co-produced by Perignem vzw
Muziektheater Transparant
Het Geluid Maastricht
Antwerp Queer Arts Festival
Annelies Van Parys: News & Agenda 2018
04.01.2018 - 27.04.2018 Newsletter
On Tour
News & Agenda 2018 - Annelies Van Parys
Het Kanaal
01.10.2017 Theater aan het Vrijthof
Maastricht (NL)
On a beach near Calais a young refugee prepares himself to swim across the Channel, towards his new future.
The new text by author Gaea Schoeters is mirrored by recently recovered Shakespeare-text. Composer Annelies Van Parys uses the Shakespeare-text as a libretto for a cycle of songs, which set the refugee theme in a historical perspective.
Scenography by Anneleen De Causmaecker.
- the show is performed in Dutch but subtitled in English -
Tickets: Theater aan het Vrijthof
Muziektheater Transparant
Queer Arts Festival
Het Geluid Maastricht
Operadagen Rotterdam
Perignem
Het Kanaal - Première
13.05.2017 - 13.05.2017 Operadagen Rotterdam
Rotterdam (NL)
On a beach near Calais a young refugee prepares himself to swim across the Channel, towards his new future.
The new text by author Gaea Schoeters is mirrored by recently recovered Shakespeare-text. Composer Annelies Van Parys uses the Shakespeare-text as a libretto for a cycle of songs, which set the refugee theme in a historical perspective.
Scenography by Anneleen De Causmaecker.
Tickets: Operadagen Rotterdam
Muziektheater Transparant
Queer Arts Festival
Het Geluid Maastricht
Operadagen Rotterdam
Perignem
Het Kanaal / Crossing Borders
17.02.2017 - 19.02.2017 Rataplan
Antwerpen (B)
On a beach near Calais a young refugee prepares himself to swim across the Channel, towards his new future.
The new text by author Gaea Schoeters is mirrored by recently recovered Shakespeare-text. Composer Annelies Van Parys uses the Shakespeare-text as a libretto for a cycle of songs, which set the refugee theme in a historical perspective.
Scenography by Anneleen De Causmaecker.
Avant-première:
Opera XXI, Antwerpen (B): 24 April 2017
Première:
Opera Days Rotterdam (NL): 11 - 13 May 2017
Muziektheater Transparant
Queer Arts Festival
Het Geluid Maastricht
Opera Days Rotterdam
Première 'Perspectives' - Quatuors de Quatuors
17.11.2016 Ars Musica Festival
Eglise Protestante, Place du Musée 2, Brussels (B)
'Perspectives', a creation for four string-quartets by Annelies Van Parys. Commissioned by Ars Musica. With Quatuor Zerkalo, Quatuor MP4, Quatuor Donnacorda, Quatuor Amon.
Première 'Come fiume incessante' by Quatuor Diotima
29.10.2016 Festival 20/21
STUK, Leuven (B)
In a short time, the Diotima Quartet has distinguished itself as one of the most outstanding interpreters of the contemporary string-quartet repertoire. They’ll play the very first string quartet 'Come fiume incessante' by Annelies Van Parys.
Programme: Enno Poppe, Alberto Posadas, Annelies Van Parys
Wesendonck Lieder Heute - Het Geluid Maastricht
21.05.2016 - 22.05.2016 Operadagen Rotterdam - Operawandeling
Garage Rotterdam (NL)
Het Geluid Maastricht gives for the avant- premiere of Wesendonck Lieder Heute, in collaboration with composer Annelies Van Parys, a contemporary vision of the songs by Wagner.
FIELD RECORDINGS - INTERACTIVE SOUND-INSTALLATION & PERFORMANCE
21.05.2016 - 22.05.2016 Operadagen Rotterdam - Operawandeling
Garage Rotterdam (NL)
The upheaval after the Great War in an interactive performance. Sound rises from the earth: rustling, murmuring… echoes of battle, but also voices and snatches of music. As visitors move through this installation, the sounds retreat. Wherever humans go, the music hushes to a murmur. This interactive sound installation, created by Anneleen de Causmaecker, Annelies Van Parys and Peter Verhelst, is brought to life by the live performance of Els Mondelaers.
And Thou Must Suffer
10.03.2016 - 12.03.2016 Klarafestival
Kaaitheater, Brussels (B)
New Composition by Annelies Van Parys commissioned by Muziektheater Transparant for Klarafestival. A prologue and epilogue to Bach's St. John Passion.
Image: Wim Delvoye
Download pdf
Via Crucis - Cello Quartet
22.03.2016 - 22.03.2016 Klarafestival
BOZAR, Brussels (B)
Klarafestival asked Annelies Van Parys to create a new contribution for cello quartet using the hymn Vexilla Regis from Via Crucis as a starting point.
Parcours
25.03.2016 - 25.03.2016 De Bijloke
Gent (B)
ChampdAction presents PARCOURS in Dialogues at De Bijloke. PARCOURS (2009) was the first co-operation between composer Annelies Van Parys and visual artist Anneleen De Causmaecker. The virtuoso performer is Jan Van Hoecke (Recorder).
HENRI DUPARC / A. VAN PARYS (ARR.) by OXALYS & CHRISTIANNE STOTIJN
22.02.2016 Konzerthaus
Berlin (D)
Henri Duparc's songs - 'Invitation au voyage', 'Phidylé' & 'Le manoir de Rosemonde' - arranged by Annelies Van Parys and performed by Oxalys Ensemble & Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano.
DEUSS MUSIC IS THE NEW PUBLISHER OF ANNELIES VAN PARYS
27.01.2016 Deuss Music
Den Haag (NL)
Deuss Music just announced a new publishing agreement with Flemish composer Annelies Van Parys, effective immediately.
INTERLUDES (WORLD PREMIERE)
30.05.2015 Kamermuziekzaal, Concertgebouw Brugge
't Zand 34, 8000 Brugge (B)
Flow, my tears, say the lyrics. And flow they did! In its day, Dowland’s lute song - based on his own Lachrimae pavan - was so popular that it was more or less England’s melancholic anthem. Contemporaries and even the composer himself continuously reinterpreted its melody and characteristic bass line. Annelies Van Parys has used this framework for a new creation, which will be seen and heard in Bruges for the first time.
Hathor Consort
John Dowland - Lachrimae or Seven Tears
Annelies Van Parys - Interludes (world premiere)
Femke Gyselinck - Dance & choreography
Photo: Femke Gyselinck © De Bijloke
New Website
27.05.2015 Tallieu Art Office
Tallieu & Tallieu NV
This new website for the Belgian composer Annelies Van Parys was developed in collaboration with Tallieu & Tallieu.
Annelies Van Parys (°1975) studied composition at the University College Ghent, dept. Royal Conservatory with Luc Brewaeys. Her works were granted many awards. In 2011 she received the prestigious Laureateship from the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium. Since 2014 she is also a member of this Royal Academy for Arts and Sciences.
Annelies Van Parys is represented by Tallieu Art Office.
Opera - Private View
26.04.2016 - 29.04.2016 Premièred at Opera XXI
On tour in Europe
Annelies Van Parys, one of the resident composers at Muziektheater Transparant, writes Private View, her first opera, for the Opera XXI festival.
Following her composition for the successful production Ruhe, performed by Collegium Vocale Gent, and the impressive Een Oresteia, she is continuing her artistic course in musical theatre.
Private View confronts us with the ambiguity of watching and being watched, an issue that seems more relevant today than in the past: Big Brother is watching you, more than ever.
FIELD RECORDINGS - INTERACTIVE SOUND-INSTALLATION & PERFORMANCE
02.05.2015 Concertgebouw Brugge
't Zand 34, 8000 Brugge (B)
The upheaval after the Great War in an interactive performance. Sound rises from the earth: rustling, murmuring… echoes of battle, but also voices and snatches of music. As visitors move through this installation, the sounds retreat. Wherever humans go, the music hushes to a murmur. This interactive sound installation, created by Anneleen de Causmaecker, Annelies Van Parys and Peter Verhelst, is brought to life by the live performance of Els Mondelaers and Isabelle Balsa. Cellist Arne Deforce plays the prelude.