Eldorado (Sonntags Abscheid)

For 12 dancers

Duration : 40 minutes

April 2000,

I discovered the recording of Helikopter-Quartett by Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Stunned by the work’s harsh and radical nature, I wrote to the composer requesting his permission to use this music, which is laden with techno-organic turbulence, for choreographic purposes. Helikopter was created in Créteil on 7 March 2001 for the Exit festival and has since been danced in many other festivals.

September 2005,

Stockhausen sent me an email suggesting we meet at his home near Cologne.

There, in his studio, he had me listen to a new opus entitled Sonntags-Abschied, a transposition for computer of a previous work for 5 separate choirs. He said the work would be perfect for dance and that is why he thought of me.

Angelin Preljocaj

CORRESPONDENCE

Aix-en-Provence, 21 October 2005

Dear Karlheinz,

Since meeting you in Cologne,  I have listened to Sonntag-Abschied a lot. To say that I like this work would be an understatement. It is an absolutely luminous, awe-inspiring piece of music. As the days went by and I continued listening to it, I came to feel that I was truly in the presence of an acoustic version of voodoo. In the first few weeks after our meeting, I felt some hesitation about working with this music. However today I feel absolutely certain that I have to at least try, I have to accept the adventure of attempting to grapple with this work.

I hope to get back to you soon with more news.

Warm regards,

Angelin Preljocaj

Choreography

Angelin Preljocaj

Music

Karlheinz Stockhausen (Sonntags-Abschied)

Scenography and costume design 

Nicole Tran Ba Vang

Costume production

Martine Hayer and Claudine Duranti

Light creation

Cécile Giovansili and Angelin Preljocaj

Artistic Assistant  

Claudia De Smet

Choreologist

Dany Lévêque

Dancers

Virginie Caussin, Hervé Chaussard,

Damien Chevron, Harald Krytinar,

Davide di Pretoro, Céline Galli,

Anna Hagermark, Lorena O’Neill,

Thomas Michaux, Zaratiana Randrianantenaina,

Nagisa Shirai, Yang Wang

Technical direction  

Luc Corazza

Coproduction 

Ruhrfestspiele - Recklinghausen

Festival Montpellier Danse 2007

Théâtre de la Ville - Paris

A FEW WORDS ABOUT KARLEINZ STOCHHAUSEN :

Born in 1928, Karlheinz Stockhausen is certainly one of the most prolific musicians of its time

Its work, compliled today on 125 compact disks, counts 319 productions.

Its work of experimentation on the electronic, space, random or statistical music had a considerable influence on all the fundamental achievements in music since 1950.

Professor of university in many European countries and in the United States, he always continued an intense activity of leader, interprets, musical director or projectionist of sound.

The World Fair of 1970 in Osaka saw playing its work by twenty instrumentalists and singers during 183 days, 5 hours and half per day, concerning a public of more than one million listeners.

The CD of Sonntags-Abschied   can be ordered directly by writing to :

stockhausen-verlag@stockhausen.org / www.stockhausen.org

A FEW WORDS ABOUT NICOLE TRAN BA VANG :

A visual artist of Vietnamese origin, Nicole Tran Ba Vang lives and works in Paris. She initially made a place for herself on the contemporary French photography scene.

Originating from the world of fashion, the artist continues to design “Collections”, as she calls each one of her photographic series.

Nicole Tran Ba Vang became well-known through her paradoxical images where she undresses the models, to then dress them again with a second skin, draping them with strange “nude clothing”. These images, both seductive and disturbing, upset our perception of our most innate belonging - our skin - turning it into an accessory like an interchangeable part of the ideal wardrobe.

Since 2003, she has prepared series of photographs which extend her reflections on identity ? her chameleon-women have embroidered skin, which goes beyond the body, taking the delicate patterns from the skin onto the walls, seemingly blending the women into the décor.