Eight musicians and eight robots stand on stage, the human protagonists “embraced” by giant mechanical arms, forming a “robotic cocoon.” In the second part of the evening, the Cello Octet Amsterdam will perform together with pianist Maki Namekawa.
COCON is an audiovisual live performance featuring Cello Octet Amsterdam performing new compositions by composers Caterina Barbieri, Jesse Broekman, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Sarah Davachi and Qasim Naqvi and an arrangement by Abul Mogard & KMRU. The scenography is created by Nick Verstand and consists of eight robotic arms embracing the musicians on stage.
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Unfortunately, the tickets for this concert are already sold out.
Please note: This Concert is included in the FESTIVALPASS+. FESTIVALPASS+ holders therefore do not need an individual ticket.
The mechanical cocoon slowly unfolds and ripples along with the music. Lights attached to the ends of the robotic arms illuminate both the musicians and the space, creating three-dimensional shapes in the air. The cocoon symbolizes Mother Earth’s embrace as a source for humanity, but at the same time represents our human addition to and destruction of that same source. This contrast is enhanced by the classical cellos that oppose the futuristic robotics. The latter behave as an autonomous entity on stage and interact with the musicians to create a tension arc of light, sound and kinetics.
Maki Namekawa and Cello Octet Amsterdam: Motion Pictures, Music from The Hours & Dracula by Philip Glass (arranged for Piano and Cello Octet by Michael Riesman), Visuals by Cori O‘Lan
Cello Octet Amsterdam & Maki Namekawa, photo: Juri Hiensch
Maki Namekawa, photo: Andreas Kolb
For the second part of the concert, the eight cellists are joined by pianist Maki Namekawa to perform two works by Philip Glass under the title Motion Pictures. Michael Riesman has made a special arrangement of Philip Glass’ film scores for The Hours (2002) and the 1999 newly released film classic Dracula for the Cello Octet and Maki Namekawa.
Bios
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Cello Octet Amsterdam
NL
Cello Octet Amsterdam is an adventurous collective of cellists that stands for new music and interdisciplinary performances. In the contemporary music world, the Octet has become a household name through collaborations with composers such as Philip Glass, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt, Theo Loevendie, Mauricio Kagel, Michael Gordon and Kate Moore. Arvo Pärt, on hearing the premiere of his first piece for the Octet said, “The Octet is a treasure, I discovered this ensemble 10 years too late.” The Octet regularly enters into collaborations with composers, theater-makers, choreographers and social organizations as a means of exploring broader themes and ideas.
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Cori O’Lan
My realtime music visualizations are all using elaborated analsysis of frequency spectrum, dynamics and timing of the music to be visually interpreted.
The aim is always to go beyond a direct, “mechanical” translation of sound-data into visual-data but to create kind of living, organic entities which have already their own behavior, which is derived from the general characteristics of a music piece and on top of this listens to the music and reacts in realtime to it.
Here is a little video that shows the realtime sound-analysis which provides the data and parameters for the realtime generation and manipulation of the graphical elements and units. -
Photo: vog.photoMaki Namekawa
AT/JP
Maki Namekawa is a leading figure among today’s pianists, bringing contemporary music by international composers to audiences. As a soloist and chamber musician equally at home in the classical and contemporary repertoire, Maki Namekawa appears regularly at such international venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center New York, Musikverein Vienna, Barbican Center and Cadogan Hall London, Citè de la musique Paris, Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, BOZAR Bruxelles, Suntory Hall and Sumida Toriphony Hall Tokyo, Salzburg Festival, Ars Electronica Festival, Musik-Biennale Berlin, Rheingau Musik Festival and Piano Festival Ruhr.
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Nick Verstand
NL
Nick is a contemporary artist researching human perception through spatial audiovisual compositions. His autonomous installations and live performances investigate the frontier between the material and the immaterial, and are created through collaborative design processes aimed at breaking down social boundaries. The resulting intuitive experiences, co-creations of artist and audience, generate a hypnotizing environment for the subconscious mind. Nick has exhibited and performed at many major venues, among others: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Shed (NYC), Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai, CHN), National Opera & Ballet (NL). He collaborated with artists such as Iris van Herpen, Björk, Lykke Li and many others.
Credits
”Motion Picture”
Music from The Hours & Dracula by Philip Glass
(arranged for Piano and Cello Octet by Michael Riesman)
(Austrian Premiere)
with real-time visualizations by Cori O‘Lan
The Big Concert Night is presented with the kind support of the Performing Arts Fund NL and in the context of the ACuTe project. ACuTe is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
