This spring, Photonen brings you a new a cappella program under the direction of conductor Jeroen Spitteler. Visions, desires, ambition and the pursuit of exaltation and fulfillment expand in Sur la terre… comme au ciel de horizon. In intriguing choral music from the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the classical tradition enters into an inspiring symbiosis with groundbreaking, sometimes transcendent ideas.

In À cette heure du jour (1992) by Ton de Leeuw, a Sumerian man wants to seal his love for a goddess with an ecstatic sacrifice. In this work, Ton de Leeuw strove for a balance between Western composition techniques and Eastern philosophy.

Another mind-expanding piece is Eric Whitacre’s layered Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (2001). Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if the genius Leonardo da Vinci were challenged in his dream by sirens and the wind to break away from the earth?

A wonderfully buzzing hymn is Deo Gratias (1988) by the Estonian Urmas Sisask: he was fascinated by astronomy, and based on the orbits of the planets in the solar system, he created a ‘planetary scale’ of five notes: C#, D, F#, G# and A.

Furthermore, he sings Photonen Horizons (1995) by Peter Louis van Dijk. In this unapologetic, rhythmic epic, an indigenous South African people has a prophecy about a people of gods who will save them. The young Utrecht composer Diederik van der Laag cherishes the dead in Ils dorment with serene chords to a text by a French ‘war poet’ from 1915.

You will also hear beloved late Romantic choral works by the French composers Poulenc and Saint-Säens, including Bonjour tristesse, Calme des nuits, Les fleurs et les arbres, and beautiful music by Maurice Duruflé. Playfulness, pure beauty, nature, prayer, dance and poetry lift us up, comfort us and give color to life.

Program:

Ton de Leeuw  – À cette heure du jour

Urmas Sisask – Deo gratias  uit Gloria Patri…

Francis Poulenc – Uit sept chansons pour choeur

Maurice Duruflé – Notre Père, Uit opus 10
Camille Saint-Säens – Twee koorwerken

Diederik van der Laag  – Ils dorment

Peter Louis van Dijk – Horizons

Eric Whitacre  – Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine, Sleep

Herbert Howells – Regina Coeli