Songs and Soundscapes in Twelve Simulations

Hotel Pro Forma / Latvian Radio Choir

NEOARCTIC

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NEOARCTIC

Hotel Pro Forma and Latvian Radio Choir reunite in order to create a new visual music performance for a large stage. Premiere August 2016.

NEOARCTIC is an aesthetic, poetic, and alarming music performance on the Anthropocene. The performance brings us into the Anthropocene world from a perspective of material and immaterial processes. An artistic statement.

We have entered the Anthropocene – a new geologic epoch, defi ned by unprecedented human disturbance of the earth´s ecosystems. Humans have come to be a ´force of nature´ that is instrumental in causing rapid, often unintended changes to the Earth we inhabit. Nature in its classical sense is over. Nature itself has become a cultural side effect with dramatic, uncontrollable ecological consequences.

NEOARCTIC looks at the ruins and the risings of the modern industrial civilization. Ruins and extinctions, new life forms and new landscapes. Symbiotic relations in a modern world of complexity. A wave of making and unmaking is creating new possibilities. The dystopian and the utopian are fusing, and a new sense of amazement at the wonders of the earth is required. The processes, the structures and their forms as interplay are the subject matter of NEOARCTIC.

We are looking at a planet in fl ux. Independent of scale, microstructures merge into global processes. There is a connection between melting ice, dust and mud - a connection between respiration, turbulence, temperature and chances.

Award Winning DirectorIn 2015 Hotel Pro Forma’s artistic direc-

tor Kirsten Dehlholm was presented with two

distinguished awards for her oeuvre:

The ISPA Distinguished Artist Award

”Kirsten Dehlholm has renewed and expanded

the notion of what performing arts can achieve

by insisting on a strong sensuous and textural

sense of the visual works. She is renowned for

artistic contents in new formats of interdiscipli-

nary work. And for the role art should play for

the audience, Dehlholm reaches above and

beyond.”

ISPA, International Society for the Performing

Arts, is a New York based global association of

arts management leaders.

The Reumert Award of Honour

“The receiver of The Honorary Award of the Year

is a sublime creator of images, an explorer of

time and space – transcending the arts. As a

director Kirsten Dehlholm has shown herself to

be a original innovator of the performing arts for

almost 40 years, fi rst with Billedstofteater and

since 1985 with Hotel Pro Forma. The Danish

Queen of performance has a feel for form, which

is just as sharp as the sparkle of her red hair.

She gives us new eyes with which we can dis-

cover the theatre.”

The Reumert is the grand award of Danish

Theatre.

On Stage

NEOARCTIC is the result of a trans-disciplinary research and artistic collaboration between researchers, composers, musicians, writers, artists, designers, fi lmmakers and scientists.

The concepts Grain, Vapor and Ray create the framework of inve-stigation. Grain, Vapor and Ray represent the particular, the volatile and the radiant, exemplifying the diversity of the Anthropocene: A world in which humankind itself has become a natural force.

Twelve outstanding singers are seen and heard on a large stage. Words are sung, whispered, shouted, spoken as rhythmic, repetitive, hammering soundscapes. Rythmic music merges with experimen-tal electronic music. Beautiful melodies appear and disappear. The stage is wrapped in white fabric, a canvas for light and colours, fi lms and projections. A landscape in constant change. Costumes and props are a materialized part of the total composition. Light fi lls the space with tactile atmospheres and subtle shades of colour while the folded fabric creates sharp shadows.

NEOARCTIC presents 12 scenes, passing through a landscape of sound and visuals in 12 performative songs.

Duration 80 min. No intermission.

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12 SongsGRAIN

Song for Plastic

Song for Dust

Song for Mud

Song for Minerals

VAPOR

Song for Infi nity

Song for Respiration

Song for Turbulence

Song for Chances

RAY

Song for Electricity

Song for Temperature

Song for Optics

Song for Colour

FactsNEOARCTIC is a new collaboration between Hotel Pro Forma and Latvian Radio Choir, who previously have created War Sum Up (2011) and Operation : Orfeo (2007). Two performances still touring the world.www.radiokoris.lv/en/choir

Director

NEOARCTIC is directed by Kirsten Dehlholm, artistic director of Hotel Pro Forma.www.hotelproforma.dk

Composers

The Latvian composer Krists Auznieks will compose the music for twelve singers together with another composer (to be decided). www.auznieks.com

Conductor

Conductor Kaspars Putnins is responsible for the music arrangements and conducts the singers from Latvian Radio Choir.www.radiokoris.lv/en/choir/kaspars-putnins

Libretto

Icelandic writer and poet Sjón writes the libretto.www.sjon.siberia.is

Light

Danish lighting designer Jesper Kongshaug designs the light.www.jesperkongshaug.com

Costumes

Fashion designer Wali Mohammed Barrech creates the costumes.www.walimohammedbarrech.com

Visuals

Visual material is developed by Hotel Pro Forma. A collaboration with the creative team who created the performance COSMOS+ (2014): Kirsten Dehlholm, Anne Mette Fisker Langkjer, Birk Marcus Hansen, Adam Ryde Ankarfeldt, Chris Ziegler and Magnus Pind Bjerre.

WORLD PREMIERE: AUGUST 2016, RIGA, LATVIA

DANISH PREMIERE: 15 SEPTEMBER 2016, THE ROYAL THEATRE, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

WIENER FESTWOCHEN,MAY-JUNE 2017

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Co-production Hotel Pro Forma, Latvian Radio Choir Distribution Quaternaire

For Touring

Minimum stage dimensions: height: 6m at proscenium, 10m fl ying height, width: 12m atproscenium, 16m backstage, depth: 14m from front of stage to rear wall, 13m from fi rst fl ybar to rear wall.

Set-up: 1st performance on 2nd day.

Hotel Pro Forma

Artistic DirectorKirsten DehlholmMail kd@hotelproforma.dkTel. +45 32 64 01 31Mob. +45 20 92 94 92

ManagerPeter JentzschMail pj@hotelproforma.dkTel. +45 32 54 02 17Mob. +45 28 11 88 41

Latvian Radio Choir

Kaspars PutninsMail kaspars.putnins@radiokoris.lvTel. +371 67 20 66 71Mob. +371 26 55 39 39

International Representative

QuaternaireSarah FordMail sarah@quaternaire.orgMob. + 33 1 53 34 03 69

www.hotelproforma.dk

www.radiokoris.lv

www.quaternaire.org

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Biographies

Director Kirsten Dehlholm (DK)Kirsten Dehlholm is the founder of Hotel Pro Forma (1985-). With a background in the visual arts Kirsten Dehlholm works with perfor-mance art, opera, theatre, and exhibitions. Her work includes con-cept and direction for Hotel Pro Forma as well as directing for opera houses and theatres internationally. In June 2015 she directed three Rachmaninov operas for La Monnaie in Brussels with great success.

She has won many prestigious awards (please see page 2).

Conductor Kaspars Putnins (LV)

Kaspars Putnins (1966) is a steady supporter of new vocal music that for his choir means performing challenging music of new musical language and expression. He is the artistic co-director and conductor of the Latvian Radio Choir since 1992. He is a regular guest conductor with the BBC Singers, NDR Kammerchor, Netherlands Chamber Choir and others.

He is the recipient of the BBC’s Silver Rose Bowl award and winner of the Latvian Music Grand Prix. Since 2015 he is appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

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Performers Latvian Radio Choir (LV)

Founded in 1940 the Latvian Radio Choir ranks among the top professional chamber choirs in Europe. Their vast repertoire ranges from early Renaissance music to complex works of contemporary music. The choir is the creator of a new choral paradigm: Every singer is a distinct individual with his or her own voice signature and role in performances. LRC travels around the world to give concerts among others at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique in Paris and Lincoln Center in New York.

With Hotel Pro Forma they collaborated on the visual operas Operation : Orfeo and War Sum Up. They have been awarded the Latvian Music Grand Prix eight times. The conductors Sigvards Klava and Kaspars Putnins are directors of the choir.

Librettist Sjón (IS)Sjón is a celebrated Icelandic novelist. He won the Nordic Coun-cil’s Literary Prize for his novel The Blue Fox (the equivalent of the Man Booker Prize) and the novel From The Mouth Of The Whale was shortlisted for both the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. His latest novel Moonstone, The Boy Who Never Was was award-ed the 2013 Icelandic Literary Prize. Also a poet, librettist and lyricist, he has frequently worked with Björk, including writing songs for her musical project, Biophilia. Sjón’s text features in the Björk exhibition at the MoMA, 2015.

Sjón is the president of the Icelandic PEN Centre and former chairman of the board of Reykjavik, UNESCO city of Literature. His novels are translated into thirty languages.

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Composer 1 Krists Auznieks (LV) Has received a BA from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and has studied at The Hague Institute for sonology. Krists is currently pursuing a Master’s degree of composition at Yale School of Music. His work I Exist As I Am for Latvian Radio Chamber Singers was a Selected Work at the International Rostrum of Composers in Finland and was broadcast on classical music radios worldwide. His works have been performed at Beijing National Arts Centre, Shanghai CityTheatre, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw and featured in Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Ereprijs YCM, Riga A Capella Festival, and New Music New Haven.

Link to music by Krists Auznieks:

www.auznieks.com/Music.html

Composer 2 To be Decided

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Lighting Designer Jesper Kongshaug (DK)Jesper Garde Kongshaug works within the fi elds of theatre, opera, ballet, and architecture. He works widely internationally and has won many awards for his innovative and thoughtful lighting design. Jesper works with the biggest opera-and theatre houses as well as more experimenting performance art companies. Besides theatre lighting he creates light for buildings and architectural projects. He is a long-time collaborator of Kirsten Dehlholm and his productions with Hotel Pro Forma have included, among others, Operation : Orfeo, War Sum Up and COSMOS+.

Fashion Designer Wali Mohammed Barrech (PK/HR) Afghan-Croatian designer born and raised in Karachi Pakistan with German background and a 2012 masters graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Using fashion as a medium to launch a discussion on themes of social concern, he fi nds inspiration in the contemporary socio-political environment.

Research and Visual Design Anne Mette Fisker Langkjer, Magnus Pind Bjerre, Birk Marcus Hansen (DK) The three visual and graphic designers are part of the artistic team.

Anne Mette is educated from Royal College of Art (MA), Rhode Is-land School of Design (Exch.), and The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Design (BA).

Magnus has a BA in Art History from Copenhagen University and is currently receiving his MFA at Parsons School of Design in New York.

Birk has an MA in graphic design from Kolding School of Design in Denmark.

Together with Kirsten Dehlholm and Jesper Kongshaug they created COSMOS+ and are responsible for research, development and pro-duction of the visuals for NEOARCTIC.

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Hotel Pro Forma

Hotel Pro Forma is an international production company of performance and exhibition. Every production is a new experiment and contains a double staging: contents and space.

The architecture and the traditions of the venue are part of the performance as a co-player.

Perception, perspective and themes from the world today intertwine with each other in a conceptual, visual work of art. Each production is the result of a close collaboration of professionals from many disciplines: the visual arts, architecture, music, literature, science, and digital media. The productions by Hotel Pro Forma are characterized by immense diversity, as the space, concept, collaborators, and performers change from one work to the next. The structure of the work is strongly anchored in music, visual arts and architecture and does not follow traditional theatrical structures.

Kirsten Dehlholm and Hotel Pro Forma have created performances for museums and public buildings as well as for theatres and opera houses worldwide. Since 1985 Hotel Pro Forma has produced more than 50 works shown in over 30 countries. Together with Latvian Radio Choir, Hotel Pro Forma has collaborated on Operation : Orfeo and has created War Sum Up.

NEOARCTIC is a new collaboration with The Latvian Radio Choir.

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About Hotel Pro Forma New York Times (US)

”A stimulating multidisciplinary, pan-cultural creation...Just the kind of thing that could get adventuresome opera lovers thinking and talking ... If only more New Yorkers could have seen it”. (Written about War Sum Up)

Le Soir (BE)

” We owe respect to lighting designer Jesper Kongshaug and the director Kirsten Dehlholm, for implementing and thinking out these rooms of light. These Danes are unsurpassed”. (Written about Operation : Orfeo)

Sydney Morning Herald (AU)

” Without a doubt, one of the greatest experiences I have ever had in the theatre”. (Written about Operation : Orfeo)

Politiken (DK)

”When it comes to setting out into the cosmos, Dehlholm is on home territory. Precisely because only two per cent of the universe can be described and, basically speaking, we know precious little about it. So this is all the more reason to send us off on an insanely fi ne, sense-tingling tour de force out into space, packed with info about everything from the fi ve billion years the sun has left to ‘live the life’ to the number of years a twin can catch up with on a long-distance journey in space. Cosmos+ is a mind-boggling performance”. (Written about Cosmos+)

Lithuanian Morning News (LV)

”...The images seen on the stage are truly impressive, and sometimes simply enchanting. The goal of creating a unique alternative image of the cosmos is what makes this production truly extraordinary...“It’s the best thing that I have ever seen”, my seven-year-old son told me when the lights went up.” (Written about Cosmos+)

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Information

www.hotelproforma.dk

Please direct your questions to Manager Peter Jentzschpj@hotelproforma.dkt. +45 32 64 01 31m. +45 28 11 88 41

8 September 2015

Strandlodsvej 6 2300 Copenhagen SDenmark

t. +45 32 54 02 17

mail@hotelproforma.dkwww.hotelproforma.dk

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