Jan-Peter de Graaff: Parallax

Parallax, composed for Katrien Baerts (soprano) and Het Collectief (chamber music quintet), is a 45 minute dramatic song cycle in 14 songs, based on a libretto by Eleanor Barlow and Yuri Robbers. Central in the piece is a woman who wants to convince the audience of her beliefs that the earth is flat and that all theories that we have been learned as humanity should be questioned. Fuelled by this belief, her goal is to build a rocket that launches her off the Earth’s surface, so she can prove once and for all the Earth is flat. In this cycle the mood changes constantly from the theoretical and abstract to the deeply personal and emotional. During the journey of these 14 songs, several reasons are explored on why someone could make the deliberate choice to deviate from what is widely known as the ‘acceptable’ or ‘absolute’ truth and why someone would put her own life in danger to prove her beliefs to her peers or herself. In the end the question comes back to us, the audience: How rock-solid are our own beliefs and what are the costs if we doubt these beliefs? Should we judge someone who chooses a different perspective?

Jan-Peter de Graaff has previously worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest, the Nederlands Kamerkoor and Asko|Schönberg. Earlier this year, the Volkskrant was still praising his cello concerto The Forest in April for cellist Maya Fridman and described his orchestration art as ‘beautifully blending harmonies’.

World premiere at Opera Zuid, Maastricht (October 22)

Concert in Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam (October 28)

Concert at November Music, Den Bosch (November 9)

Het Collectief