| Makers | Ragazze Quartet en Kate Moore |
| Duration | 70 min |
If we could hear the trees, this is what they would say
Trees can communicate with each other on a level that exceeds the average bar chatter. But what would those old trees tell us if we could understand them? What would they think of the way we treat the earth? The four musicians of Ragazze Quartet all play wooden violins and are endlessly fascinated by the history that sometimes centuries-old wood has stored.
In a visual concert with strings and electronics, the Ragazze Quartet takes you into nature. To a wunderkammer of pulsating sap streams, communicating hyphae and crown shyness. And all this with wooden instruments as interpreters.
Kate Moore is an internationally acclaimed composer. Her work has been performed by Asko|Schönberg, Bang on a Can and the Groot Omroepkoor, among others. She has won major prizes such as the Mathijs Vermeulen Prize (2017) and the Gieskes-Strijbis Podium Prize (2022). With her Herz Ensemble, she was the resident composer at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ and a festival composer at November Music. She studied in The Netherlands and also in Australia and has received various international grants for her work.
The Ragazze Quartet is an innovative string quartet that brings classical music to life with surprising programs and collaborations with theater, dance and literature. They work with young makers and high-level partners such as NDT, Orkater and the Holland Festival. Since 2017, they have been the artistic director of the September Me festival and received the Operadagen Rotterdam Award because they seem to think outside their traditional field with utmost ease!
Performers: Ragazze Quartet (music) and Jurjen Alkema (video projections)
Music: parts of a commissioned composition by Kate Moore and works by Garth Knox, Kaija Saariaho, Mees Vervuurt and Nathalie Flintrop
Director: Mees Vervuurt
Set design & video projections: Jurjen Alkema
Costume design: Bart Hess
Sound: Koen Keevel
Production: Barbara Reijs
Memories of Trees was made possible in part by Fonds 21 and Zabawas. The Ragazze Quartet receives multi-year support from Fonds Podiumkunsten and Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst.
Korzo Zaal