World Premiere · Steingrimur Rohloff · 5 Songs by Medea
Steingrimur Rohloff
Esbjerg Ensemble and Dutch mezzo-soprano Francine Vis will perform Steingrimur Rohloff's new work 5 Songs by Medea at Stormen in Bodø, Norway, during the Nordic Music Days 2019.
5 Songs by Medea is based on the female character from the classic Greek drama, written 400 BC. Steingrimur Rohloff's work on Medea questions: What may the female characters of the classic Greek dramas tell us today? The same goes for Rohloff's opera Lysitrate from which 5 songs also will be performed that night.
Medea is a tragedy, Lysistrate a comedy, so before the concert, the composer is invited to an interview with Esbjerg Ensemble's Katrine Ganer Skaug moderated by philosopher and associate professor at Nord Universitet Hege Dypedokk Johnsen about these two female characters and how Rohloff has approached them musically.
Both pieces - 5 Songs by Medea and 5 songs from the opera Lystrate - contain texts by the acknowledged Danish poet Peter Laugesen, with whom Rohloff shares an ongoing collaboration.
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More performances of Steingrimur Rohloff in November
Steingrimur Rohloff has other works in performance in the following month. The Berlin-based ensemble LUX:NM performs Rohloffs work “Close Relatives” on a tour in Mexico. Follow the ensemble here
November 8 the piece Antarctica (2016) for sinfonietta is performed in Hellerau Festspielhaus by Arktisk Sinfonietta, El Perro Andaluz (DE), and Ola Asdahl Rokkones (NOR). View the event here
Furthermore, star-pianist Tamara Stefanovich performs his etude Making friends at the Barbican in London on November 10. View the event here
Last but not least, Rohloff has written a new children's opera to which he also wrote the story, together with the newly sprung out librettist Therese Fabricius. The chamber opera for children and adults is a dark fairy tale about a girl who loses her voice. In order to find it, she has to go on a quest, where she meets creatures who may or may not have been created by her own imagination and feelings…
Philomena's Voice is performed at Zangenberg Teater from the 15 November till 1 December. View the event here
Read more about Steingrimur and view his works at Edition·S here
