SORA ELISABETH LEE — ENSEMBLE INTERCONTEMPORAIN

DIANA SOH I linger lately beyond my time — World premiere, commissoned by the Festival d’Aix
REBECCA SAUNDERS Fury II
PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Vesalii Icones

This concert by the Ensemble intercontemporain conducted by Sora Elisabeth Lee is the counterpart, filled with sound and passion to Songs and Fragments, forming the diptych of incredible performances that will lay bare the human psyche at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume. Peter Maxwell Davies composed Vesalii icones the same year as Eight Songs for a Mad King: inspired by "anatomical theatres", the work examines bodies to approach the unfathomable mystery of living things. Diana Soh's I Linger Lately Beyond My Time, commissioned by the Festival as a world premiere, gives voice to the wife of the Mad King and rehabilitates all those women, particularly female operatic characters, whom men insist at all costs are unbalanced. Finally, in the cathartic gesture of Fury II, Rebecca Saunders tackles head on this fascinating destructive impulse, which has been almost divine since antiquity. A few instruments capitalising on all their expressive power, together with Claron McFadden's deeply moving personification, are the mediums for an evening rich in extreme emotions, from which ultimately emerge immense empathy for the 'insane' and greater acceptance of our excessive nature.