Alwynne Pritchard & BIT20 Ensemble –

Counting Backwards

21.00–22.00

Cornerteateret, Kongesalen

180,–/225,–/250,–*Verdenspremiere*

Alwynne Pritchard – Arnabuar og tidligere kunstnerisk leder for Borealis – inntar 20-årsjubileet med verdenspremieren på sitt verk Counting Backwards. Verket er bestilt av BIT20 Ensemble, dirigert av Jack Sheen, og har et barn som forteller, et talekor og en stum trestamme. Gjennom Counting Backwards stiller Alwynne spørsmål ved om vi mennesker, som har skapt klimakrisen, egentlig kan finne svar uten å tenke radikalt nytt om hvem vi er, og vår eksistens.

“Someone suggested to me recently that as human beings we should see ourselves as co-evolved parasites of the earth’s systems. If this is so, maybe nothing we do will ever solve the problems we’ve created. Maybe we should think instead of undoing: of letting go, descending, releasing – decaying, even. Perhaps before optimism and action, we need to experience collective grief – to cultivate acts in which we can submit to the necessity for our own inertia.”

I verket omringer de virtuose musikerne i BIT20 Ensemble publikum, og skaper en altoppslukende konsertopplevelse. Fra stillheten høres en barnestemme, og ekkoet fra et kor. Lyden av vann, steiner og treverk er også tilstede i rommet. Det telles bakover.

Alwynne grubler over vår arts evne til å skape endring, og utfordrer samtidig seg selv som komponist ved å avdekke egen kunnskap, og finne nye måter å jobbe på. Verket ligner ikke noe av det hun tidligere har skrevet – med nyskapt symbolikk og metoder, prøver hun å finne veien til optimismen gjennom sorg.

Presentert i samarbeid med BIT20 Ensemble Bestillingsverk støttet av Kulturrådet.

BIT20 Ensemble

Jack Sheen – dirigent

Alwynne Pritchard – komponist, forteller & vokalist

Dulcie Pugh – barneforteller

Alexander Fiske Fosse, Gunhild Sannes Larsen, Mirte Bogaert og Philipo Njaidi – bevegelse

Mirte Bogaert – bevegelseskonsulent

Thorolf Thuestad – lyd

Silje Grimstad – lys

Victoria Pritchard – stemmepedagog

Michele Braga – feltopptak

Bergen based composer and former Borealis director Alwynne Pritchard premieres her newest commission from the BIT20 Ensemble, conducted by Jack Sheen, featuring a child narrator, speech choir and a mute tree stump. Through this work, Alwynne questions whether we, the people who have created the climate crisis can really find the answers without radically rethinking who we are and how we exist.

“Someone suggested to me recently that as human beings we should see ourselves as co-evolved parasites of the earth’s systems. If this is so, maybe nothing we do will ever solve the problems we’ve created. Maybe we should think instead of undoing: of letting go, descending, releasing – decaying, even. Perhaps before optimism and action, we need to experience collective grief – to cultivate acts in which we can submit to the necessity for our own inertia.”

In Counting Backwards, the virtuosic musicians of BIT20 Ensemble surround the audience, creating an immersive concert experience. Through the stillness a child’s voice speaks, echoed by a choir. Sound of water, stones, wood are present in the space. Counting backwards.

As she ruminates on our ability as a species to effect change, Alwynne challenges herself as a composer to unravel her own knowledge, to find new ways of working. Writing a piece unlike her previous work, she challenges herself to create new symbologies and mythologies. She tries to find a way to optimism through grief.