Korzo Zaal
Musical Utopias Thursday: Upbeat
| Performers | Alison Isadora, Luna Quartet, Pauline Oliveros, Dario Calderone & Ensemble Klang |
| Duration | 60 min |
| Part of | Musical Utopias |
Upbeat: Sharing Space
Join a scene-setting opening evening for Musical Utopias 2026, with a brand-new string quartet by Alison Isadora tackling the legal rights of rivers, followed by the sonic meditations of Pauline Oliveros lead by Dario Calderone.
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20.15-20.45 Grote Zaal – Luna Quartet, Alison Isadora
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20.45-21.15 Grote Zaal - Pauline Oliveros, Dario Calderone & Ensemble Klang
Luna Quartet, Alison Isadora
Isadora’s Sharing Space (with a river) is based on field recordings made in the floodplains of Meinerswijk - the land along the Rhine that floods during high water to give the river more space. During the piece the Luna (string) Quartet traverses through the seasons, sometimes in dialogue with recordings or striking projected collages of photos from the area.
Composer and sound artist Alison Isadora hears our human activities as being part of nature: the construction site, the motorbike and chainsaw existing in the same space as the shag, the willow tree and the duck. Can we find a way to share space with the river, the marshes and all that live within to create a flourishing collective ecosystem? You are invited to listen along!
The Luna Quartet for contemporary music is described by BBC Radio 3 as: “Specialists in quiet music,”. It deliberately explores the fringes of new experimental music. Driven by the awareness that it is there where history is being written.
Pauline Oliveros, Dario Calderone & Ensemble Klang
Ensemble Klang will also perform a work by Pauline Oliveros this evening, which is about deep listening and experiencing the subtle sounds around us.
Composer and sound artist Alison Isadora is quite multidimensional musically: from work for punk bands to Javanese gamelans, baroque and electronic ensembles. Listening together is always central, because that is how she celebrates the magic of life. Will you join in the celebration?
Without reserve, these four musicians use their expertise to push boundaries.
They work closely with German composer-performers Kunsu Shim and Gerhard Stäbler, and with British composer Frank Denyer. The Luna Quartet performs regularly in the Netherlands and abroad, including in Trier, Darmstadt, Goch, and Essen. Their recording of Denyer’s Second String Quartet was released on the British label Another Timbre, which also issued their albums The Boundaries of Intimacy and LUFT.INNERES. They also present new works by composers such as Ig Henneman, Rozalie Hirs, and Willem Boogman, and collaborate with musicians including harmonium player Klaas Hoek and accordionist Vincent van Amsterdam. In the long term, a collaboration is planned with composer Richard Rijnvos for his project Harmonie der Sferen.
Composition: Alison Isadora
Violin: Janneke van Prooijen
Violin: Shannon Lee
Viola: Elisabeth Smalt
Cello: Katharina Gross
Voice: Nathalie Smoor
Visual Design: Aliz Soos
Sound Design: Jan-Bas Bollen
Korzo Zaal