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)
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
Data driven kinetic sculpture
02.11.2018 - 02.11.2018 KIKK Conferences - Species and beyond
Palais des congrès, Namur (B)
Using intersections between natural and mechanical systems, David Bowen produces unique relationships within his sculpture and installation. With robotics, custom software, sensors, tele-presence and data, he constructs devices and situations that are set in motion to interface with the physical and virtual world. The devices he constructs often play both the roles of observer and creator, providing limited and mechanical perspectives of dynamic situations and living systems. These devices and situations create a dissonance that leads to an incalculable changeable situation resulting in unpredictable outcomes. The phenomenological outputs are collaborations between the natural form or function, the mechanism and the artist.
ISOS
02.11.2018 - 04.11.2018 ICK Fest
Theater de Meervaart, Amsterdam (NL)
Kris Verdonck makes in ISOS reference to the world and characters depicted in the apocalyptic science-fiction novels by James Graham Ballard (GB, 1930-2009). Ballard portrays in his Magic Realistic stories and autobiographical works, intelligent and visionary descriptions of a future world which increasingly resembles our contemporary neoliberal society. ISOS consists of 3D videos shown in nine view-boxes where virtual sculptures perform in the strained socio-political situation that is called suburbia. The audio-visual installation acts as a short film edited in the viewer's imagination.
tele-present wind 2018
01.11.2018 - 04.11.2018 KIKK Festival - Species and Beyond
Namur (B)
tele-present wind, 2018 by David Bowen consists of a series of 126 x/y tilting mechanical devices connected to thin dried plant stalks installed in a gallery and a dried plant stalk connected to an accelerometer installed outdoors. When the wind blows, it causes the stalk outside to sway. The accelerometer detects this movement transmitting the motion to the grouping of devices in the gallery. Therefore, the stalks in the gallery space move in real-time and in unison based on the movement of the wind outside.
D.I.Y - MANUAL FOR A POTENTIAL FUTURE
26.10.2018 KHIO
Oslo (NO)
Today, our society suffers a future crisis. It seems nearly impossible to imagine a society radically different form the existing one. We are trapped in the realities of the present. The project DIY or manual for a possible future, is based on recognition that the world can not change if we are unable to think about new futures. More than ever, we therefore need utopias.
‘The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can never be made or destroyed
Sunlight transforms into trees,
trees become oil,
oil is oxidised into CO2.
Nothing is lost
Matter and energy transform endlessly in various states
All matter and everything that ever will exist
exists already.'
Performance by and with installation artist Lawrence Malstaf, dancer / performer Liv Hanne Haugen, playwright Tale Næss, musician / performer Amund Sjølie Sveen and director Jon Tombre.
Shrink 01995 at NU Performance Festival
24.10.2018 - 25.10.2018 Nu Performance Festival
Talinn (EE)
Two large, transparent plastic sheets and a device that gradually sucks the air out from between them leave the body vacuum-packed and vertically suspended. The transparent tube inserted between the two surfaces allows the person inside the installation to regulate the flow of air. As a result of the increasing pressure between the plastic sheets, the surface of the packed body gradually freezes into multiple micro-folds. For the duration of the performance the person inside moves slowly and changes positions, which vary from an almost embryonic position to one resembling a crucified body.
At NU Performance Festival 2018 there will be 5 Shrinks and the bodies of 5 performers.
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
Polygon 02016
05.10.2018 - 14.10.2018 Maintenant Festival
Rennes (F)
Polygon is a large kinetic structure composed of lightweight articulating tubes hanging from thin wires. Via a mechanism of motors and counterweights it becomes a geometric landscape that moves organically and adjusts shape and balance in response to the visitors.
The Physical Mind
05.10.2018 - 14.10.2018 Maintenant Festival
Rennes (F)
During a residency in Shanghai, Teun Vonk discovered by chance that it eased his stressed body and mind to apply physical pressure to his body. Contrary to what one may expect, the registration of sensory input does not improve in a heightened state of sensitivity, such as stress. Such a state serves the evolutionary purpose by filtering out irrelevant information, only focusing on the accurate response: fight or flight. When experiencing such a state, applying pressure to the body has a strong stress-relieving effect.
With The Physical Mind, Vonk seeks to let participants experience the relation between their physical and mental states by applying physical pressure to the body. The installation consists of two inflatable objects. The participant lays down in between, is lifted up and gently squeezed between the two inflatable objects. The lifting creates an unstable feeling, a slightly stressful sensation that is directly contrasted with a secure feeling of being gently squeezed between two soft objects. Paradoxically, this forced physical stimulus reduces feelings anxiety and paradoxically stress and the flight- or fight-response disappear. The participant experiences and increased sensitivity to stimuli, normalized alertness and a calm state of mind. The positive effects of this increased receptivity can continue for a few hours after the experience. The installation evokes empathy in bystanders who witness a participant undergo the experience.