De Klank van de Stad

THE SOUND OF THE CITY was commissioned by the A-CHOIR in Antwerp in 2019 for the multicultural project “One City”. The work was written to lyrics by Maud Vanhauwaert and is inspired by the music of Antwerp singer, musician, poet and visual artist Wannes Van de Velde. Composed sections alternate with improvisations by the violin and the oud. In the choral parts, you can clearly feel the inspiration of medieval and Renaissance music (open fifths and fourths) and polyphony. The work consists of nine parts: Introduction Improvisation 1 Verse 1 Improvisation 2 Verse 2 Improvisation 3 Interlude Verse 3 Epilogue Text by Maud Vanhauwaert (free translation): We live in one city, but even more so we live in many languages that collide alongside and over and within each other and that sound with tongues that fall strangely We live in one city in many languages but even more so we all live in our own heads, which sometimes form a city in themselves, with thoughts in all too short turns, monuments of memories and places where it is better not to go alone at night. We wander around this one city in our own worlds and perhaps that is why it is so special when someone suddenly looks at you on a tram or on the street and, through all the languages and heads, you feel that you are touching each other naked.