Following the success of their first Carte Blanche program, Kamerkoor NEXT returns with Carte Blanche: Double Double. This unique concert gives the floor to the singers, who have curated a selection of music that moves and inspires them. The result is a vibrant melting pot of works composed within the last forty years—a program perfectly tailored to the ensemble’s identity.

A central highlight of the program is the work of William Knight, who sets the voices of great English literature to music. Drawing from the poetry of Thomas Hardy, Knight creates a poignant and moving portrait of loss. His evocative compositions stand in dynamic contrast to Jaakko Mäntyjärvi’s Double, Double Toil and Trouble, which brings the chaotic witches’ cauldron of Shakespeare’s Macbeth to life.

The repertoire further explores the intangible through Knut Nystedt’s warm settings of Kierkegaard’s existentialist texts and Krzysztof Penderecki’s hauntingly oppressive Agnus Dei. The program also features a rhythmic Dies Irae by Michael John Trotta and the world premiere of Mon cor e m’amor, a work by NEXT’s own singer Vincent Martig, inspired by medieval troubadour lyricism.

Program:

William Knight – Walking with Thomas Hardy

Krzysztof Penderecki – Agnus Dei

Knut Nystedt – Prayers of Kierkegaard

Michael John Trotta – Dies Irae

Vincent Martig – Mon Cor e M’Amor

Jaakko Mäntyjärvi – Double, Double Toil and Trouble en A scurvy tune