WNMD 2025 · CONCERT 12
Extraordinary Cello / Violoncelo extraordinário
03-06-2025 · 15h00
O’culto da Ajuda
Lisbon
Bilheteira · Ticket Office
Filipe Quaresma · cello
CARLOS BRITO DIAS (Portugal, 1991) YCA
[depois] (2023), 4'
GEORGE CHRISTOFI (Cyprus, 1983)
Reflect (2008–2016), 7'
Individual submission
KAIJA SAARIAHO (Finland, 1952–2023)
Sept papillons (2000), 11’
LUÍS TINOCO (Portugal, 1969)
Prolonging (2022), 8’
TOMASZ SKWERES (Poland, 1984)
Suite Macabre (2021), 9’
ISCM Austrian section
YCA · ISCM Young Composers Award candidate
PROGRAMME NOTES
CARLOS BRITO DIAS (Portugal, 1991) YCA
[depois] (2023)
— [depois], for solo cello (2023), proposes a sound immersion inspired by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen's poem ‘Depois da cinza morta destes dias’, in a narrative that moves between silence and a muted intensity. The sounds of the cello are moulded by the sonority of the words and the atmosphere of how I read the poem, evoking an inner universe full of contradictions. Silence reveals itself as a space for reflection and creation, and it is in this very silence that the inner chaos emerges and transforms itself into something new and unknown. This piece was premiered at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2023 by Tord Hagbarth.
“Depois da cinza morta destes dias,
Quando o vazio branco destas noites
Se gastar, quando a névoa deste instante
Sem forma, sem imagem. sem caminhos.
Se dissolver, cumprindo o seu tormento.
A terra emergirá pura do mar
De lágrimas sem fim onde me invento.”
GEORGE CHRISTOFI (Cyprus, 1983)
Reflect (2008–2016), for cello
Individual submission
— Reflect, composed for a workshop at the Music Department, York, for Cellist Rohan de Saram and revised in 2016, explores water scarcity and environmental consciousness, reflecting Portugal’s growth versus resource preservation dilemma. With trills, fluid figures, “watery” material, and evaporative transformation in its musical structure, Reflect is – as its title denotes – a reflection on the delicate balance between human progress and ecological sustainability. Through the solo cello, it embodies the fluidity and resilience of water, urging reflection on our environmental responsibilities and the hope for a sustainable future amid the global climate crisis.
KAIJA SAARIAHO (Finland, 1952–2023)
Sept papillons (2000), 11'
— Sept papillons was the first piece Saariaho wrote after her opera L’Amour de loin, and it was partly written during the rehearsals of the opera in Salzburg. One can sense the desire to find a new world, which has nothing to do with the opera neither in style nor in language. From the metaphors of the opera which all have an eternal quality—love, yearning, and death—she moved now to a metaphor of the ephemeral: butterfly. Also, from the long times-spans of the opera she moved to these seven miniatures, which each seem to be studies on a different aspect of fragile and ephemeral movement that has no beginning or end. Sept papillons was commissioned by the Rudolf Steiner Foundation and was first performed by Anssi Karttunen in Helsinki in September 2000.
LUÍS TINOCO (Portugal, 1969)
Prolonging (2022), 8'
— [Programme notes available soon]
TOMASZ SKWERES (Poland, 1984)
Suite Macabre (2021), for cello
ISCM Austrian section
— Suite Macabre for cello solo is a tragicomedy piece. The use of dark humour concerning the subject of death interferes with the seriousness of the subject. It is a composition full of exaggerated theatrical gestures and instrumental virtuosity, but it stimulates reflection on human temporal wandering – for serious reflection. The composition consists of three movements: Guillotine, Gibbet Song and 1000 Volt.