The concert will begin with the world premiere of Falling, a work by Greek-Dutch composer Calliope Tsoupaki. After studying in Athens, she went to The Hague to study with Louis Andriessen. Her extensive oeuvre includes operas, oratorios, choral works and chamber music and is frequently performed at home and abroad. From 2018 to 2021, she was ‘Composer of the Fatherland’. In 2021, she was awarded the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen composition prize for the corona composition Thin Air. In her work, she connects her Greek origins and her love for ancient and contemporary music. The result is an entirely unique style and timeless music that sometimes uses Eastern instruments from folk music in combination with Western instruments.

Falling, the orchestral work she composed for Phion, was written for a symphony orchestra with traditional instrumentation. The sound of the orchestra has kept changing over the centuries. The orchestra in Mozart’s time differs from the one in the late Romantic era. Many composers in the 20th century made the orchestra sound radically different. Calliope Tsoupaki wonders what the orchestra should sound like now. By combining her own idiom with the sound of the traditional repertoire, Tsoupaki creates a new and, at the same time, recognisable orchestral sound.

“In Falling, there are many things to hear. The night falls, silence falls, and rain falls. Falling can refer to falling for someone or something. Falling can be a state of mind that involves letting go and surrendering, and it can be different for everyone. As a result, Falling is a composition that is extremely diverse. The music is very contrasting, sometimes the sound is very transparent, as if much has been let go and fallen. On the other hand, sometimes the music is dense and menacing. What happens when everything falls?”

Program:

Tsoupaki: New Work (commission, world premiere)

Bruch: Violin concerto nr. 1 (Liza Ferschtman – violin)

Brahms: Symphony nr. 4