Polyphonies

Polyphony: here and now, in music and society

Polyphonies is not a traditional concert but a concert experiment: a different way of listening and a spatial musical experience. Together with the singers of the Flemish Radio Choir, conductor Kaspars Putniņš, and Adja Fassa, the audience moves freely through the space. The whole forms a living soundscape. Voices converge and disperse – and the music travels with them. As a spectator, you are part of this whole. You can choose a spot within the vibrant scenery, sitting or leaning, or move through the Hortahal. Follow the music and let yourself be guided by curiosity and wonder. 

Listening: to music and to each other

‘How can we truly listen?’, director Aïda Gabriëls asks, ‘not only to music but also to one another?’ This question is the starting point of Polyphonies. In keeping with her artistic practice, she breaks with classical concert conventions. No stage, no plush seats, but an open space with seating and leaning elements, where singers and audience move freely. How you experience the voices of the choir and Adja Fassa and how they blend depends on your position. Every step or shift alters the music, both for yourself and for others. ‘We are collectively writing a new story where everyone steps outside their comfort zone for a moment. The audience plays a fundamental role in this,’ Aïda explains.

It is an experiment not only for the audience but also for the artists. Where a choir usually sings as a group, hearing each other closely and communicating constantly through body language and eye contact, that familiar framework is absent here. Spread throughout the space, individual singers are compelled to redefine themselves. Adja Fassa also seeks her place in this constellation, as she introduces a different artistic practice with her improvisational singing and original compositions. 

The whole becomes a living organism, says Aïda, much like society itself. There, too, ‘being together’ is an ongoing search: finding a place for oneself while relating to others. This idea resonates in several of the texts, such as in the mass by Guillaume de Machaut and the work of Caroline Shaw. ‘These are religious texts, but at their core, they are about seeking direction and finding one’s place.’ In this way, Polyphonies becomes a reflection on community, individuality, and collectivity.

Foam scenery
Like the music, the scenery also takes up a temporary space. The colourful seating and reclining elements, made from large pieces of foam, are bound together for the concert and later returned to the factory they came from. The foam furniture is spread throughout the space, inviting spectators to explore. The otherwise monumental Hortahal thus becomes a flexible, ever-changing environment.

A musical swamplands

The title refers to polyphony or multi-voiced music: a compositional technique where different voices form a whole without losing their individuality. The musical programme connects polyphony from past to present, beginning with a 14th-century landmark: the Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaut. Here, voices intertwine in an architectural interplay of lines, whereas in the contemporary work Nuits, Adieux by Kaija Saariaho, polyphony evolves into an undulating sonic tapestry. No structured counterpoint, but ‘a musical swamplands,’ as Aïda describes it, ‘an unpredictable landscape where sounds merge and dissolve.’ Between these works, compositions by Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Patricia Van Ness are interwoven with a cappella interventions by Alexis Nootens. Adja Fassa improvises on the choral music and also presents her own composition. In this way, polyphony appears in various forms and genres, from the Middle Ages to the present.

Creation & performance: Flemish Radio Choir & Adja Fassa  

Conductor: Kaspars Putniņš  

Concept, stage direction & scenography: Aïda Gabriëls  

Musical programme: Alain De Ley  

Dramaturgy: Tessa Vannieuwenhuyze & Lena Meyskens

Choreographic advice: Matteo Sedda

Scenography: Anne Van Es

Music arrangements interludes & SWIM: Alexis Nootens

Costumes: Maarten Van Mulken

Production management: Sebastiaan Peeters

Production: Vlaams Radiokoor

Coproduction: Klarafestival & Muziektheater Transparant

In collaboration with Ancienne Belgique & Bozar

With the support of Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government