In March, four works by Calliope Tsoupaki will be heard in 11 concerts, in the UK, the US and in The Netherlands!
New music at Phion orchestra! Experience the world premiere of 𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 – a very varied orchestral work commissioned by Phion. Tsoupaki believes that music can express a lot. There is a lot to hear in Falling: the night falls, the silence falls, the rain falls. Sometimes the sound is transparent, sometimes dense and menacing. By combining her own idiom with the sound of the traditional repertoire, Tsoupaki creates a new and at the same time recognizable orchestral sound.
After studying in Athens, Greek-Dutch composer Calliope Tsoupaki 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 Laureate. 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: March 8-17 during the Dutch tour by Phion orchestra
In the program O zuyderste Lucht, the Amsterdam Cantorij sings a cappella works by Dutch composers. This includes big names such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Hendrik Andriessen, but also lesser-known ones such as Cornelis Padbrué. The program will also include a work by Calliope Tsoupaki, from which the title of the program is derived.
The theme of ‘air’ (lucht) also returns in “Dämmerung” by Diepenbrock and “De nevel dekt ons” by Verhulst. In addition to works for the entire choir, there will also be pieces for just a male or female choir, by Badings and Manneke. A varied program that draws attention to the richness of more than four centuries of Dutch choral music.
March 10, Waalse Kerk Amsterdam
In her Memento Nostri, Calliope intertwines Latin and Byzantine texts. A brand new mass that connects traditions like a universal meta-requirement, Tsoupaki reveals. For Tsoupaki’s requiem, the choir is accompanied by a special ensemble, Consort Company: a quartet of viola da gambas conducted by Mieneke van der Velden joins forces with a recorder quartet led by Daniël Brüggen. In Tsoupaki’s new mass, it all comes together. The warmth of the choir sound, the mercurial sound of a collection of viola da gambas, combined with the clarity of a recorder ensemble.
At the request of Anthony Zielhorst, conductor of chamber choir Ad Parnassum Tilburg, and with support from the Performing Arts Fund, Calliope Tsoupaki has composed the Requiem composition MEMENTO NOSTRI (2020), which was originally intended to be premiered during Requiem in Koningshoeven in November 2020. This performance could not take place due to the pandemic, so the upcoming performances will bring the world premiere. Tsoupaki’s combination of instruments (choir accompanied by recorders and viola da gambas) was frequently used by many composers in the 17th century, because the sounds of both ensembles can melt together beautifully without losing their individuality.
March 9 and 10, New York, Church of St. Francis Xavier, USA
Greeks organist Elena Keventsidou will perform Calliope Tsoupaki’s Pour Notre Dame. That piece has been dedicated to all organists and cathedrals expressing compassion for the immense disaster that the fire caused in Notre-Dame of Paris on the 15th of April 2019.
Composers in the crosshairs of our attention