John Zorn is one of the leading composers of contemporary American music. The density and diversity of his extraordinary work, which began in the mid-1970s, as well as the audacity and artistic freedom he expressed through his craft, never ceased to challenge and fascinate the artistic director of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. It was written that a meeting between the avant-garde musician and the choreographer would happen...
January 2016, the Village, New York. The two artists exchange for the first time about their respective artistic experiences, cultural heritage, and desire to transcend it and free themselves from it in order to push back the boundaries of art. The conversation is meaningful, rich, and passionate. Naturally, Gil Roman shares with him his desire to use his music for one of his ballets. The appointment is set....
2018, the Béjart Ballet Lausanne studio, Lausanne. Facing a considerable body of work, Gil Roman immerses himself in the various compositions making up the universe that the brilliant multi-instrumentalist has explored from 1990 to 2017… Step by step, with a movement, a gesture, Gil Roman brings his dancers beyond the walls...
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Choreography: Gil Roman
Music: John Zorn
Scenario and videos collaborator: Marc Hollogne
Costumes design: Henri Davila
Lighting design: Dominique Roman
Premiere: Opéra de Lausanne – April 5, 2019
Recorded at Beaulieu Theatre – Lausanne, Switzerland on June 18 and 19, 2019.
Directed by Arantxa Aguirre
Gil Roman thanks the rights holders of Ludwig Hohl and Editions de l'Aire for making the title available.
"I gathered a series of excerpts, just like how one would prepare a party. Or like how one would compose songs for a recital, a performance, a brief encounter." – Gil Roman
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Choreography: Maurice Béjart
Set design: Gil Roman
Music: Ludwig van Beethoven
Costumes design: Henri Da...
Where were we when we were not there?
In music, it’s a rhythm “out of time”. We are talking about syncopated music.
In medical terms, it is a stoppage or slowing of the heart. 5 to 10 seconds of loss of consciousness during which the brain can just imagine, invent or review without limit.
Me...
When working on the choreography of the Mandarin merveilleux, I meticulously followed the sheet music, the story and the dramatic organisation of Béla Bartók's work.
The slum-inspired universe of the “Mitteleuropa” in the years leading up to 1933 was revealed to me through the films of Fritz Lan...
