The London Sinfonietta presents ‘Strange News’ by renowned Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin and Belgian director Josse De Pauw; a concert and film illustrating the reality of life for the world’s 250,000 child soldiers.
By using surround sound, orchestra and a big screen, Wallin and De Pauw fuses the finest contemporary music with audio-visuals and performing arts to tell a unique and unflinching tale of hope and redemption. ‘Strange News’ is a compelling performance, exploring the healing power of music in some of the darkest corners of the world.
“It is not a piece of ‘political art’ in the traditional sense, in which one often propagates against a clearly defined ‘enemy’ and proposes a solution for the problem, but rather as an artistic parallel to a TV or radio documentary: a small, but informative window onto a particular matter, where the empathy with those involved is more important than dry information, and where no conclusions are made.” Wallin writes.
Bringing this brutal reality into the concert hall, his moving orchestral score weaves music with Josse De Pauw's video footage and the words of former young soldiers performed live on stage by the 20-year-old Ugandan actor Arthur Kisenyi. An on-screen cameo by well-known journalist and presenter Jon Snow completes this powerful piece of concert theatre.
“The Norwegian charity Christian Relief Network (CRN) has long experience from work with child soldiers. Josse De Pauw and I, together with a reporter and a cameraman from NRK (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation), visited the CRN projects in Uganda and The Congo in November 2006. We met former child soldiers, talked to them, and recorded their words.” Wallin says.
Critically acclaimed vocal ensemble Exaudi gives the performance a historical context with works by Iannis Xenakis and Michael Finnissy. Joining the London Sinfonietta in the concert’s first half, Exaudi illustrates contemporary music’s ability to highlight the issue and effects of violence throughout history. Iannis Xenakis’s Nuits is a modern take on a classical Greek tragedy dedicated to 1960s political prisoners in his native Greece. Michael Finnissy sets surviving accounts of an Anglo-Saxon war saga to his modern sound in a live performance of Maldon.
Rolf Wallin, born in Oslo 1957, is one of the foremost contemporary Nordic composers. His versatile musical background spans from jazz, avant-garde rock and early music to traditional classical training. Wallin’s music is regularly performed worldwide, and he has written for some of the world's foremost performers and orchestras, such as the Cleveland Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Wiener Mozartjahr. He has also received several prices for his music, such as The International EBU Rostrum 1999 and the Nordic Council's Music Prize 1997.
Rolf Wallin will be joining a pre-concert discussion about the place of music in developing our awareness of world issues. The debate will take place before the concert on October 3 at 6.15pm and will last about 45 minutes.
London Sinfonietta presents ‘Strange News’
Programme:
Iannis Xenakis: Nuits
Michael Finnissy: Maldon
Rolf Wallin: Strange News
Baldur Brönnimann; conductor
James Weeks; conductor
Leigh Melrose; baritone
Arthur Kisenyi; narrator
Exaudi
Sound Intermedia sound projection
Sunday 03 October, 7:30pm
Pre-discussion 6:15 pm
Queen Elizabeth Hall,
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX, UK
Tickets: £14,50, (£13,45 online). Concession price: Under 26s £6,50, Full time students £4,50
Buy your tickets from the Southbank Centre Ticket Office on: 0844 847 9940 or
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