April 2010
TV Interview "De artiestenfoyer"
De Artiestenfoyer
A 60-minute interview with Michel van der Aa was recorded for the television program “De Artiestenfoyer”. The program’s host, Frénk van der Linden, asks Michel about Bach, defining moments and how to deal with the roller-coaster in his head.
Excerpts of the works After Life, The Book of Disquiet, Passage, Memo and Spaces of Blank will be shown and discussed.
The interview was broadcast on 14 April at 8.45 p.m. on the television channel “Het Gesprek”. An archived stream can be watched online: hetgesprek.nl
March 2010
'After Life' revivals in Lyon and London
Bryna’s film shoot
The opera After Life, following its successful revival by De Nederlandse Opera in the fall of 2009, will be staged at Opera de Lyon on 18, 20 and 21 March 2010. The same excellent cast will return, accompanied by the ASKO|Schoenberg Ensemble and conductor Otto Tausk.
These performances are part of the Biennale Musiques en Scène 2010 Lyon. Van der Aa’s chamber music works Just Before, Memo, Oog and Passage are also included in the biennale’s program.
The Barbican Centre in London will present a semi-staged performance of After Life during its ‘Present Voices’ series on 15 May 2010.
March 2010
'Up-Close': a new commission from ECHO
Sol Gabetta
The European Concert Hall Organization (ECHO) has commissioned a new work for solo cello, string orchestra and film.
Cellist Sol Gabetta will join Amsterdam Sinfonietta for a European tour of six performances in March 2011.
Venues include the Stockholm Konserthus, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Brussels BOZAR, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London Barbican and Hamburg Laeiszhalle.
March 2010
Premieres of 'Rekindle' and 'The Book of Disquiet'
Joao Reis, Casa da Música
Van der Aa’s latest work, Rekindle for flute and soundtrack, received its world premiere on 14 February 2010 during a Composer’s Portrait concert in Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge.
The work will also be presented in Villa Romana, Florence on 6 March in a concert entitled ‘Loops4ever’. The soloist is Manuel Zurria. The Dutch premiere of Rekindle will take place in the fall of 2010 in Amsterdam, and the first German performance is planned for 19 January 2011 in the Philharmonie Essen.
read more about Rekindle
A new, fully-staged version of the music theatre work The Book of Disquiet, the original Portuguese text by Fernando Pessoa, was premiered in Casa da Musica, Porto on 9 February 2010. The actor Joao Reis was joined by Remix Ensemble and conductor Ed Spanjaard.
The German version, featuring the actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, travels to Wroclaw, Poland on 31 July 2010 and to the Staatstheater Saarbrücken on 16 May 2011.
read more about The Book of Disquiet
January 2010
World premiere of 'Rekindle'
Kettle’s Yard
Van der Aa’s latest work, Rekindle for flute and soundtrack, will be premiered on 14 February 2010 during a Composer’s Portrait concert in Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. Jane Mitchell is the flutist.
Rekindle integrates the play of changing perspectives between live and prerecorded sound, the two elements ‘rekindling’ one another’s material. As the material is passed back and forth, the pulsating rhythms in the soundtrack instigate an increasingly virtuosic dialogue. At the work’s climax, the soundtrack takes control, forcing the flute into sudden sequential outbursts.
The Dutch premiere of Rekindle will take place at the end of August 2010 in Amsterdam and the first German performance is planned for 19 January 2011 in the Philharmonie Essen.
read more about Rekindle
Portuguese language version with João Reis & Ana Moura.