‘Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer on music by Frederik Neyrinck’

Who is the most famous Dutch author? Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer! Not only is he renowned for major novels such as Brieven uit Genua, La Superba and Grand Hotel Europa, he also writes exquisite poetry. His latest collection, Idyllen, was published in 2015 and consists of no fewer than 50 narrative poems in rhyming alexandrines. In the era of Facebook and Twitter addiction, refugees on boats and the Israel-Palestine conflict, Pfeijffer’s Idyllen are first and foremost a farewell to the idyllic. However, the reader will find some solace in Pfeijffer’s unsurpassed linguistic skill.

Klarafestival and Passa Porta Festival commissioned Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer to write a new idyll with a world altered by the pandemic in mind. On the basis of this poem, titled De oude woorden van een tijd die komen gaat (‘Old words from a text that is to come’), Frederik Neyrinck composed a new piece for soprano, narrator, two brass and two woodwind instruments.   

The instrumentalists of the Antwerp wind ensemble I SOLISTI perform this composition in collaboration with Lore Binon (soprano) and Josse De Pauw (narration). Prior to the creation of De oude woorden van een tijd die komen gaat, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer will be interviewed by Nicky Aerts (Klara).