Noors requiem

Pure schoonheid van boven de poolcirkel!

Na het succes van hun Belgische debuut in 2018 en een Belgische tour in 2020 komt Vocal Art opnieuw naar België, in het gezelschap van trompettist Tore Johansen en pianist Espen Berg.

Vocal Art brengt de integrale uitvoering van een Noors Requiem, samen met ander werk van Tore Johansen. Tore Johansen studeerde aan de afdeling jazz van het Trondheim Muziekconservatorium. Hij werkte samen met  tal van muzikanten zoals Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Bugge Wesseltoft en vele andere jazzfenomenen. Espen Berg is één van Noorwegens toppianisten en geeft les aan de prestigieuze jazzhogeschool in Trondheim. 

Laat je meeslepen door de rijke stemmen van Vocal Art, de krachtige alomtegenwoordige Scandinavische zangcultuur, de soundscapes van trompettist Tore Johansen en door het virtuoze pianospel van Espen Berg. 

Uiteraard ook door Soetkin Baptist! Van 2004 tot 2009 was zij de hoofdzangeres van Ishtar, de Belgische inzending voor het Eurovisiesongfestival in Belgrado, Servië, in 2008. Vanaf 2007 stond zij op het podium met Chansons sans Paroles van Wouter Vandenabeele, haar duo met Anne Van den Bossche (piano). Daarnaast is Soektkin ook gastzangers bij o.a. Olla Vogala, Encantar, Graindelavoix en Psallentes.

Sinds 2017 maakt zij deel uit van Ratas del viejo Mundo, een internationaal collectief onder leiding van Floris De Rycker.Ondertussen woont Soetkin permanent in Noorwegen en maakt zij daar deel uit van het vocaal ensemble VocalArt (NO). Zij is in Noorwegen ook gastzangeres bij Bodø Rhythm Group (Bodø -NO), Vokal Nord ( Tromsø - NO), Musikk I Nordland (Narvik - NO) en speelt in duo met pianist Sveinar Aase (NO). Daarnaast treedt zij regelmatig als solist op bij o.a. Musikkfestuke Bodø (NO), Sagaspill Steigen (NO), Querini opera Røst (NO), Nordlys Festival Tromsø (NO), Bodø Jazz open (NO).

"What we have here, is quite possibly one of the finest improvised solo piano performances I have had the pleasure of listening to in the last decade or so."
- Mike Gates, UK Vibe, 5/5

“Impressive stuff – the future of spontaneously-improvised solo concert is in safe hands.”
- Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise, 4/5, Editor’s Choice 

PROGRAMMA

Graag geven we al de volgende info mee, met telkens een woordje uitleg geschreven door componist Tore Johansen zelf!

Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Johann Sebastian Bach, arr.: Tore Johansen)
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach is such great inspiration for me. It has always been. I guess I couldn’t have written what I’ve done without him. I feel it is a nice idea to start a choral concert with a new version of one of my favorite Bach corals. 

Jazz Mass (Tore Johansen 2015)
Jazz Mass was written for the Bodø Cathedral Choir and was performed for the first time in December 2008. It was released on CD in 2009. Originally the orchestra part was written for Sinfonietta and jazz group, but the piece have been performed in smaller jazz combo as well.

On this concert we’ll perform a brand new chamber version of a little collection from this work. Jazz Mass is a full length mass with one hour of music. The four movements that we’ll perform tonight is approx. one third of this piece.

Espen Berg solo improvisation
Espen Berg is one of the greatest jazz pianists around, in my opinion. The Requiem that end this concert was written with Espen in mind, end the idea was - and still is - that his role is as free as possible. The piano part is written as simple as possible, only stating melodies an chords. What 

the piano player does with the music is entirely fresh every time this work is performed. His little solo piano moment will lead us into the last piece.

Requiem: Shine On Them (Tore Johansen 2015)   
In the spring of 2011, I was given the honorable task of writing music for the closing of the foundation stone for Stormen Concert Hall and Library in Bodø. I worked on the piece throughout the summer and had set myself the goal of delivering the sheet music before July 23rd, when I had to go on another assignment.

On Friday 22 July 2011, in the morning, I was busy in front of the computer - with freshly brewed coffee, enthusiasm and a profitable hope of finishing during the evening. At dinnertime, the world exploded, and Norway was never the same. No more was noted, and when I finally had to go to bed sometime in the morning, the estimate of youths killed was over 80.

Norway is such a small country in the world that the entire nation was in close contact with the unimaginable tragedy. I myself was asked to play at the funeral of one of the victims of the terrorist's horrific actions. In the days after July 22, it occurred to me that I could not finish the piece of music I was working on.

The then Minister of Culture and AUF veteran Anniken Huitfeldt laid the foundation stone in Bodø, and I felt strongly about honoring the memory of the victims. Over the course of an afternoon, evening and night I wrote the music for "Lux Aeterna", and when I read the English translation I got chills from the last sentence: "Let everlasting light shine on them" And it still feels that way. May eternal light shine upon them. Everyone misses someone. Shine on them is music for reflection and gratitude. And with the hope that those of us who wander around the globe still spend as much time as possible on the good.

Tore Johansen, Oslo, January 2023

programmaboek