One of today’s most audacious conductors and pianists, live at Firth Hall
“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance, when you’re perfectly free”. One night, when discovering these mighty words by Persian poet Rumi, I was left with no choice: I walked to my piano, stared at it in the dark, feeling ready to dive into the wildest dance of my life, one that would change my spirit and give birth to new rhythms and sounds. I knew there would be no way back from this voyage, so I asked six souls to accompany me. Three men from the past and three women from the present took a step forward and joined me, each bringing their own prodigious choreography. As we started to dance together, I could see my piano changing form, becoming a different creature, leaving behind its old traditions. Little by little, our bodies all came closer, dancing faster and faster. Ancestral rituals merged into rhythms of the future. Soon, we would reach our destination, where life is celebrated with no limits, or as Rumi said: a place where we’re perfectly free. – David Greilsammer
Programme
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Davidsbündlertänze, Book I (16’)
Nkeiru Okoye (born 1974) Dance Til’ you Drop (new piece, world premiere) (2’)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Corant, from Suite in D Minor (2’)
Georgie Ward (born 1990): Techno Confessional, chapter I (new piece, world premiere) (‘3)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Les fées sont d’exquises danseuses, from Préludes (‘4)
Carolina Noguera (born 1978): La Noche de los Cuerpos (new piece, world premiere) (7’)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Danseuses de Delphes, from Préludes (3’)
Georgie Ward (born 1990): Techno Confessional, chapter II (new piece, world premiere) (‘3)
Henry Purcell (1659-1695): Hornpipe, from Suite in D Minor (2’)
Nkeiru Okoye (born 1974) Drums Calling (3’)
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Davidsbündlertänze, Book II (17’)
65 minutes with no intermission.
