Sofia's Trip

Maker	Lonelinoise
Note	With microdose psychedelic truffles
Duration	300 min
Part of	Season 26-27

A consciousness-shifting concert experience with psychedelic truffles

How do psychedelic truffles shape our experience of music? You’ll find out in Sophia’s Trip. From the comfort of a beanbag, and under professional supervision, you’ll experience a low dose of legal psychedelic truffles while the Lonelinoise orchestra guides you through a trance-like live performance. Both intense and softer sounds accompany you, gently steering your experience as your sense of time slowly dissolves. All of this while contributing to a unique scientific study by Leiden University.

Transcendent music from Russia and Iran
Bassoonist and general manager of Lonelinoise, Thomas Dulfer, conceived Sophia’s Trip. During this journey, he serves as your musical guide, opening windows into subconscious worlds with his ten-piece ensemble. You’ll be enveloped in the intense music of composer Sofia Gubaidulina, full of human suffering somewhere between heaven and earth. You’ll also be carried by the calming, repetitive music of Soheil Shayesteh. He improvises live on the kamancheh (spiked fiddle) and combines Iranian melodies with live electronics.

The music continuously feeds and changes your trip. Or is it your trip that is changing the music?

Disclaimer : In some performances, Sofia’s Trip uses a low dose of legal psychedelic truffles administered under the supervision of certified trip guides, in collaboration with the PRSM lab at Leiden University. Participation is at your own risk. Lonelinoise and Korzo are not responsible for individual health effects. Not suitable for people with a history of psychotic episodes, for those using certain medications, or during pregnancy. All participants are screened in advance and fully informed. 

Sophia’s Trip is not only an artistic project but also part of a scientific study in collaboration with the PRSM lab at Leiden University. The lab investigates the effects of psychedelics on musical experience. Participants in the Truffle Trip are surveyed before and after the concert to gain deeper insight into how truffles influence the perception of music. 

Sofia Gubaidulina | Duo Sonata
Soheil Shayesteh | وهم (Vahm) I

Sofia Gubaidulina | Quasi Hoquetua
Soheil Shayesteh | وهم (Vahm) II

Sofia Gubaidulina | Bassoon Concerto
Soheil Shayesteh | وهم (Vahm) III

Lonelinoise is always looking for new ways to communicate the power of contemporary music. In addition to performing at the highest artistic level with great passion, the ensemble actively seeks bold programming, storytelling, and presentation formats that bring music into focus. Lonelinoise has appeared on major stages such as the Concertgebouw and De Doelen, as well as in unexpected locations like the Frisian Wadden Sea, an abandoned factory, and a forest lake.

Thomas Dulfer is a bassoonist and the managing director of Lonelinoise. He is also a soloist and the creative brain behind Sophia’s Trip. As both a cardiovascular scientist and musician, he works at the intersection of worlds that are not usually connected. In this project, that’s music, consciousness, and science. 

Sebastiaan Kemner is a trombonist and the artistic director of Lonelinoise. He won the Dutch Music Prize in 2021 and conducts research at the University of Oxford on how contemporary music reaches audiences. Sebastiaan will conduct Sophia’s Trip.  

Soheil Shayesteh is an Iranian composer based in the Netherlands. His music moves between trance, Iranian folk traditions, and Western contemporary composition. He is writing three new works for Sophia’s Trip and plays the kamancheh and live electronics. 

Composers: Sofia Gubaidulina, Soheil Shayesteh
Performers: Thomas Dulfer (bassoon & duduk), Soheil Shayesteh (kamancheh & live electronics), Ketevan Roinishvili (cello), Emma Warmelink (cello), Renée Timmer (cello), Dominique Chabot (double bass)

Conductor: Sebastiaan Kemner

Scientific research: PRSM lab, Leiden University (led by Michiel van Elk)
PR & marketing: Thijs Faas
Executive production: Lonelinoise

With thanks to: Fonds Podiumkunsten, Municipality of The Hague, Fonds 21, NORMA Fonds, Stichting Berg Heemstede, Elise Mathilde Fonds, K.F. Hein Fonds, BNG Cultuurfonds