Belgian National Orchestra, Ollikainen & Falk Winland

As part of the Ars Musica festival, this programme (made up of four Belgian premieres) explores contemporary Nordic music in its most honest form: calm, focused and stripped of ornament. In Catamorphosis, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, our composer-in-residence, allows music to emerge from slow shifts and irreversible change. Sound becomes substance, shaped by tension and time. In Anders Hillborg’s The Strand Settings, the human voice takes centre stage. Soprano Ida Falk Winland moves through a hushed sound world where text, sound and silence carefully probe one another. Kristine Tjøgersen’s Between Trees draws music from perception itself, weaving subtle natural sounds that blur the boundary between inner self and outer world. Hans Abrahamsen closes the programme with Vers le Silence, a work in constant motion, moving from intense sound to fading and stillness. Conductor Eva Ollikainen masterfully leads this evening in which imaginative listening lies at the core and deeply human emotions rise to the surface.