- Kazushi Ono conductor
- Sayaka Shoji violin
- Bejun Mehta countertenor
- Vlaams Radiokoor
From foxtrot to lullaby: Kazushi Ono, Brussels Philharmonic's new music director, will take you into a musical Alice in Wonderland dream world. The music ripples and prowls from a nocturnal haze to a deep paradoxical sleep. Between the pieces, the ...
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From foxtrot to lullaby: Kazushi Ono, Brussels Philharmonic's new music director, will take you into a musical Alice in Wonderland dream world.
The music ripples and prowls from a nocturnal haze to a deep paradoxical sleep. Between the pieces, the surround soundscapes with their shards of words and elusive drone sounds, amplify the alienating yet poetic night of dreams. Music that makes you dream - and dreams that become music.
The dream world already starts as soon as you step into Flagey, with a timelapse installation and expo.
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John Adams starts off full of energy and has the orchestra swing feverishly with forward-moving, repetitive beats and spectacular jazzy arrangements. In The Chairman Dances, Adams saw before his eyes how a young Mao Zedong danced the foxtrot with his lover – until, exhausted, they lay down and were overcome by sleep.
Their eyes closed, Henri Dutilleux immediately takes over: his L’Arbre des songes winds confidently inwards, like a tree whose every branch blossoms into a different dream – now surprisingly, now sweetly and softly. Whatever the dream that glides past, they restlessly thwart deep sleep.
The journey continues, to a distant dream world that Toru Takemitsu discovered thanks to the ancient myths of the Australian aboriginal peoples: a time when ancient spirits walked the earth instead of humans. Misty sounds ripple intangibly away, emerging barely at the surface of consciousness …
In that place where we have the deepest dreams, the wonderful gems George Benjamin’s Dream of the Song come forward one by one to show forth their imaginary beauty. The countertenor - “mysteriously sensual and sensually strange” – is embraced by the veiled sounds of a women’s choir and the orchestra. Moonshine, the night-time firmament, the gossamer-like dreams of a gazelle, a harp, a flute: images of bliss and wonderment – peace, at last.