ELECTRA

ELECTRA verleidt drie Haagse componisten tot het (her)schrijven van muziek waarin zij de precisie van het getal aanwenden voor hemelbestormend krachtige en prachtige muziek. Startpunt is The new math(s) dat Louis Andriessen (1939), de eminence grise van de Haagse School, in 2000 schreef voor ELECTRA en dat hij nu bewerkt voor de bezetting met piano in plaats van marimba. Peter Adriaansz (1966) maakte zelf school met de fragiele schoonheid en solide zeggingskracht die hij creëert door het rekenen aan boventonen en microtonen. Aurélie Lierman (1980) vielen de schellen van ogen en oren toen zij zich als maker van bijzondere radiokunst meldde bij het Koninklijk Conservatorium en een componist werd. Zij gaat aan de slag met de 23 duizend jaar oude Ishango-botjes uit de Democratische Republiek Congo, mogelijk de allereerste rekenlinealen ooit.

Vier maal een bevrijdende moord - Rache is een muzikaal-theatrale voorstelling van vier scènes voor solistenensemble ELECTRA, gecomponeerd en geschreven door Boudewijn Tarenskeen en gedramatiseerd door de musici zelf. Zij laten hun vondsten fijnslijpen door artistieke zwaargewichten aan de zijlijn - een scenograaf, een regisseur, een dramaturg en een podiumbeest. De vergadering van componist, musici en theatermensen die Rache tot stand brengen mag gerust een dream team heten.

Boudewijn Tarenskeen - muziek en tekst

Paul Koek - theateradviezen

Wende Snijders - theateradviezen

Marc Warning - scenografie

Cecile Brommer - dramaturgie

Micha de Kanter - geluid en theateradviezen

Nico de Rooij - scenografie en lichtontwerp

Djana Kovic - scenografie en lichtontwerp

rly Girls, Electra, the four-piece, all-female ensemble, presents a musical ode to five women who played an important role in the history of women’s emancipation: Emmeline Pankhurst, champion of women’s right to vote; Rosie the Riveter, nickname for all women who contributed to the war economy from 1942-1945; Gertrude Stein, the well-known American writer who played an important part in the Paris art scene; and Amelia Earhart and Hanna Reitsch who both performed daredevil feats in the field of aviation. Composers Renske Vrolijk, Vanessa Lann, Lucas Wiegerink, and Michiel Mensigh show their admiration for these heroins, which through their intelligence, daring, and perseverance captured a place in history. The idea was conceived by Renske Vrolijk; she also wrote the title composition Whirly Girls about aviatresses Amelia Earhart and Hanna Reitsch. Expect a concert full of militancy, courage, and adventure alternated with video images and theatrical elements.

In Industrial Landscapes, musicians of ELECTRA emphasize and unite their individual powers, both as ensemble players and as soloists. The ensemble pieces are written for ELECTRA , and the solo works are specially arranged or composed for each of them. Each of the pieces is a dramatic performance, incorporating such elements as distortion, electronics, pure metal installation (scaffolding) and the fragility and strength of human voice versus mechanism and industry. ELECTRA explores the nature of the industrial experience, contrasting the many facets of what could be seen as a relatively recent phenomenon and showing its contradictions in a dramatic reflection of the questions at the heart of modern society. Video projections, including Tonnus Oosterhoff’s ‘floating poem’ MESTRA, guide the public through the show. Industrial Landscapes is structured around four solo works shrouded by two large scale ensemble pieces written specially for the project. Michael Gordon’s phenomenal Industry for adapted violin and distortion, a variety of industrial environments in Ned McGowan’s Workshop for recorder, Louis Andriessen’s explosive Workers Union for solo percussion and installation, Klas Torstensson’s whirling Urban Solo, Guus Janssen’s large-scale new work MESTRA and the deceptively titled, hard-hitting Sweet Love by Cornelis de Bondt .

A few years ago, the Second Life website was all over the news. The site’s visitors can choose an alter ego and lead a second life in a virtual fantasy world: a world that has an uncanny resemblance to the real world. The grey area between reality and illusion is the inspiration for the new show: ELECTRA’s Second Life The result of a lengthy exchange of ideas and research with the U.C.C. (Utrecht Composers Collective), this project heralds two new adventures for ELECTRA: working with a team of composers (the U.C.C.), and integrating a fifth player into the band (Sonsoles Alonso, piano/keyboard).

As the title suggests, this program consists largely of works by the internationally renowned Dutch composer : Louis Andriessen. Louis Andriessen’s presence and inspiration have deeply influenced the musicians of ELECTRA. This collaboration has led to an exciting and varied program of solo and ensemble pieces in which the many different facets of this extraordinary composer are brought to light. Featured on the ALL-ANDRIESSEN program is the score & soundtrack ‘The New Math(s)’ (2000), written for and recorded by ELECTRA for New York filmmaker Hal Hartley’s highly acclaimed film, in a co-production of the NPS and the BBC. When the English version of ‘Shopping List of a Poisoner’ was brought out in 2002, ELECTRA created their own theatrical version, featuring four voices and a nail on sandpaper. Other highlights in the program are the metallically explosive ‘Workers Union’ from 1976 in a solo percussion version created by Tatiana Koleva together with Paul Koek and De Veenstudio, and the 2005 solo violin/voice piece, Xenia.