‘Polyphonies’

It is an age-old example of musical magic: two or more melodies work their way through time together. They are made for each other, yet they go their own way – a model of unity in diversity. But what happens when the voices change positions? Or when the listener adopts a different perspective? How much dissonance can the polyphonic fabric bear before it falls apart?

In Polyphonies, director Aïda Gabriëls explores polyphonic music as a social scale model. Seventeen singers form a mobile soundscape in the majestic Horta Hall at Bozar. At times the collective swarms together, at other times it disintegrates into smaller formations or separate particles. Conductor Kaspars Putniņš guides the Flemish Radio Choir from one era to the next, from the 14th-century Guillaume de Machaut to contemporary composers such as Julia Wolfe, Kaija Saariaho, Caroline Shaw and Adja Fassa. The audience also takes part in the choreography. They move freely through the space and decide for themselves where and when they want to sit, lie down or lean.

Polyphonies is a new step in Gabriëls’ research into the flexibility of seemingly fixed realities. It is a thought experiment about power dynamics and community formation, individual and collective, equality and difference. How do we resonate with the other? Is the counterpoint that arises in a society reversible? Is polyphony a utopia?

With the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government.

Read the programme here.