Dialogues between old and new

Duration	105 min
Part of	In Bloom

The music scene in The Hague is growing and thriving

In Bloom is a concert series featuring new music by Korzo and The Hague-based composer Lise Morrison. New what? New music, yes! Music being written today within an open and highly versatile genre. Anything can be a source of inspiration, from classical music to pop culture. Composers approach music as organised sound, experimenting with melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, intensity, and repetition. In doing so, they continuously discover new ways to make instruments sound, to capture contemporary life, and to surprise you.

During this edition of In Bloom, you will encounter three very different artists from The Hague who bring together old and new musical worlds: Gośka Isphording does so with harpsichord, video games, and interactive video; Petra Cini & Sean Bell revive a piece from 1576 using baroque guitar and synthesizers; and the remarkable duo of dance and electric guitar, Lombardi // McEwan, a collaboration between Italian dancer and mover Alessia Lombardi and Greek-Scottish guitarist, composer, and electronic musician James A. McEwan.

The harpsichord might look like a centuries-old instrument, but Gośka Isphording has turned it into a vessel for strikingly contemporary sound. During In Bloom, she performs a work for harpsichord, two modified video game consoles, and interactive video, developed together with Hugo Morales Murguia.

Gośka is known for introducing the harpsichord to a wider audience of composers and listeners through collaborations, talks, and master classes.

In a time when division seems to grow by the day, this project unites past and present. Classical sounds meet modern electronics and centuries-old music is reimagined with unexpected twists. In doing so, they question what musical identity today's European creators actually have and why.

Meandering in the Wind features a new work by Petra Cini for piano, synths, vocals, baroque guitar, and electronics, inspired by a 1576 composition plus modern arrangements from 1606 by Sean Bell. This is old music like you've never heard it before.

During In Bloom, Lombardi // McEwan present a dance and music performance inspired by the Greek dance Zeibekiko. Taking this ritual as a starting point, they translate it into a contemporary form, focusing on solo movement, inner expression, and the tension between joy and melancholy. The performance shifts between intensity and stillness, inviting the audience to discover their own meaning within it.

Zeibekiko is originally a solo dance without fixed steps, performed during celebrations and in nightclubs. Its most important unwritten rule: you dance alone. It is within this solitude that space emerges to express the full weight of an inner moment.

Lombardi // McEwan is the collaboration between Italian dancer and mover Alessia Lombardi and Greek-Scottish guitarist, composer, and electronic musician James A. McEwan. Based in The Hague, they create performances at the intersection of dance and live music, ranging from introspective to high-energy.