World premiere: Eivind Buene: Leçons de Ténèbres
Saturday March 9, 18:00
(Doors open at 17:00)
Uranienborg Church
Adult: 350 NOK
Senior/student: 250 NOK
Children: 100 NOK
Duration: 50 minutes
Song Circus
André Lislevand. viola da gamba
Eivind Buene is one of our finest contemporary composers, and it is not the first time that he has had a world premiere at the Church Music Festival. The new work by Buene, Leçons de Ténèbres, is based on François Couperin’s work of the same name, written for vocalists and basso continuo in 1714. The genre Leçons de ténèbres has its roots in the Renaissance, and is connected with the Holy Week, where music was performed in the gleam of fifteen candles. After each ‘leçon’, a candle was extinguished, until ‘tenebrae’ or darkness was reached on Good Friday, when the last candle was extinguished. Buene’s work is related to this tradition, presented in a complete acoustic performance. The composition has been made in close collaboration with the distinct voices of Song Circus. The viola da gamba player André Lislevand plays an important part as an instrumental counterpoint, and functions as a bass below the four female voices. The text in the Baroque Leçons de Ténèbres – directly translated as Lessons of darkness – is from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, telling the biblical story of Jerusalem’s destruction. These texts are thrown into relief by new texts telling stories from today’s Middle East, taken from the human rights organisation Breaking the Silence, in Norwegian version by author Finn Iunker.
Eivind Buene (b. 1973) studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and is today an Oslo-based composer. Buene has written music for international ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Intercontemporain, and London Sinfonietta, and has collaborated with a number of Norwegian orchestras and ensembles. Buene also works with improvising musicians, and is developing new works in the intersection between improvisation and classical notation. He won Spellemannprisen (the Norwegian Grammy Awards) in 2012 for the Cikada-recording Possible Cities/Essentials Landscapes, and the Edvard Prize in 2015 for the work Blue Mountain. In addition to his compositional work, Buene has written essay collections and novels, with Konfirmasjonen (2022) being his most recent publication.
The chamber ensemble Song Circus
(est. 2009) is one of Norway’s leading vocal ensembles in contemporary music, and is based in Stavanger. The ensemble consists of Silje Aker Johnsen, Ingeborg Dalheim, Signe Irene Time, and artistic director Liv Runesdatter. Song Circus works with experimental music, sound art, and audiovisual productions. An untraditional vocal ensemble, built as an instrument, with different qualities and musical approaches, and an expansive musical vocabulary. They have collaborated with, among others, Pascale Criton, Trevor Wishart, Nils Henrik Asheim, and Jaap Blonk. Song Circus has performed at festivals and concert halls all over Europe, and has been broadcast on radio and TV in Germany, Scotland, Belgium, Netherlands, and Norway on several occasions.
André Lislevand was born in Verona (Italy) in 1993. He has followed in his parents’ footsteps, who are both lutenists, and quickly became interested in early music. At the age of 11, he started playing viola da gamba under Alberto Rasi at the Conservatory of Verona, where he graduated in 2011 with the highest score. At the same time, he started his studies under Paolo Pandolfo at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in 2014. He continued with Vittori Ghielmi at Mozarteum in Salzburg in 2017. At the age of 16, he started playing with leading musicians all over Europe, and has collaborated with, among others, Roy Goodman, Sigiswald Kujiken, Rolf Lislevand, Andrea Marcon, Alfredo Bernardini, Verona Baroque Orchestra, and Villa Contarini Baroque Orchestra.
