Musical Utopias #3 | online festival
Available on-demand till 21 February
Tickets: https://shop.korzo.nl
Ensemble Klang and Korzo proudly present this special edition of Musical Utopias created for the Korzo’s online theater StudioX. This edition presents six brand new works created by artists brought together in creative conversation. Composers, poets, film-makers, singers, dancers, choreographers, lighting designers and of course the musicians, present works that all stem from more than one creative voice: artistic dialogues that explore our current situation and look with hope to the future.
Musical Utopias #3 – in conversation
1. Sole Wake [9 min] Feadan McCall & Lucien Denny meet Joey Marijs & Michel van der Aa
2. Thrift Hybrids [33 min] Claron McFadden meets Matthew Wright (Ensemble Klang)
3. Distance [3 min] John de Simone meets van Koppen & de With
4. Roulette [7 min] Maya Verlaak meets Avenue Azure
5. Full Moon [18 min] Maarten Altena meets Pavla Beranová, (words William Carlos Williams, Michaela Riener & Ensemble Klang)
With animation interlude films by Schupp & Van Dijk
Sole Wake [9 min]
Dancers Feadan McCall and Lucien Denny converse with Joey Marijs as he performs Michel van der Aa’s solo for percussion. In this virtuosic, high speed work, the three performers’ physicality and energy are confronted with moments of role-swapping and sudden disappearance, the characters themselves liable to vanish from the screen.
Choreography & dance – Lucien Denny & Feadan McCall
Music – Michel van der Aa
Percussion – Joey Marijs
Lighting – Bas Vissers
Thrift Hybrids [33 min]
Thrift Hybrids brings a living-room-in-lockdown to the stage of the Korzo, with Claron McFadden Zoomed-in as a visitor or maybe soloist, an observer or maybe the observed, to Ensemble Klang’s home. In a space filled with mobile phones, iPads, screens and televisions the work reflects on our relationship with media and technologies, creating a multi-layered environment of repetition, both visual and sonic, live and remote.
Voice & music – Claron McFadden
Concept, music & videos – Matthew Wright
Porcelain photo – Martin Klimas
Stylist – Femke van Hilten
Lighting – Sanne Rosbag
Ensemble Klang
Distance [3 min]
In this concise but intense work John de Simone tasks Daan van Koppen and Erik-Jan de With with conjuring a sound-world that saturates the listener in baritone sax, before reaching a point of gentle resolution.
Music – John de Simone
Saxophones – Daan van Koppen & Erik-Jan de With
Lighting – Bas Vissers
Roulette [7 min]
Maya Verlaak delivers a game of roulette to be played between the piano and guitar duo of Avenue Azure. In a game where notes and chords are the trigger for the spinning of a musical roulette wheel, the two instruments are tasked with juggling chance and precision, coincidence and control.
Music – Maya Verlaak
Piano – Saskia Lankhoorn
Electric guitar – Pete Harden
Lighting – Sanne Rosbag
Still from the film of Full Moon by Maarten Altena, video & lighting design Pavla Beranová
Full Moon [18 min]
This brand new set of songs from one of the legends of Dutch creative music-making, Maarten Altena, reflects on the night time, and the sensuous mystery of a moonlit darkness. The pared-back precision of William Carlos Williams’ poetry, set by Altena, is partnered for this special film with video and lighting art by Pavla Beranová.
Music – Maarten Altena
Words – William Carlos Williams
Lighting & videos – Pavla Beranová
Soprano – Michaela Riener
Ensemble Klang
Schupp & van Dijk
Sprinkled through the video programme are a series of short, hypnotising, and sometimes bizarre animation films created by Sjeng Schupp & Michiel Van Dijk.
Bonus Environments Listening Session (21 Feb)
Join us for an exclusive online listening session with the composer, performers and technicians behind Ensemble Klang’s new album: Environments by Peter Adriaansz. A special closing event to the Musical Utopias festival week, you can read live commentary and pose your own questions while the album is playing.
In his largest work to date, Peter Adriaansz delivers a wide-ranging reflection on humankind and society. Multiple layers of musical material, from background hum and de-tuned guitars to florid piano scales, combine with spoken word texts to create expansive Environments. Robert Pirsig, Beat philosopher Alan Watts, and lines from the mysterious Kybalion, pose questions about how we fill our days, how we pass the time, and what the purpose might be of our intellectual, spiritual and political pursuits.
Taking place at 20.30 (Central European Time) on Sunday 21 Feb here: x.korzo.nl/musical-utopias