Sjaella & Lucile Boulanger

In the organizer's words:

Sjaella

Viola Blache, Marie Fenske & Franziska Eberhardt: soprano

Marie Charlotte Seidel: mezzo-soprano

Felicitas Erben & Helene Erben: Alto

Lucile Boulanger: viola da gamba

"The Thriving Principle"

Wally Gunn: "What Would Circe Do?" on a text by Felicitas Erben (world premiere, commissioned by Sjaella)

Laura Marconi: "Giselle" (excerpts)

Kassia: Byzantine-Orthodox hymns and secular epigrams, arr. by Burak Özdemir

The urge to unfold is the theme of this three-part concert, which focuses on female figures from different eras. The sorceress Circe from Greek mythology, Giselle, the title character of the well-known ballet classic, and Kassia, the earliest surviving female composer from Orthodox Byzantium: three contemporary vocal works tell of her striving for growth and self-expression - despite all the obstacles. Lucile Boulanger combines the pieces with improvisations on the viola da gamba.

With this program, the six-member women's vocal ensemble Sjaella presents three exciting living composers, some of whom have set texts by singers in the group to music. Alto Felicitas Erben wrote the poem "What would Circe do?" for the Australian composer Wally Gunn. The focus is on Circe - the magician banished to an island. What would she advise if she were asked for help?

The text of "Giselle" was also written by Felicitas Erben. Laura Marconi created the vocal composition to complement the ballet for a production at the Leipzig Opera. The singers give the mute dancer a voice and let her tell her tragic love story herself.

Istanbul composer Burak Özdemir sees the nun Kassia as an impressive woman and colleague from late antique Byzantium. For the concert, he reworked his vocal-instrumental Kassia opera for the a cappella instrumentation of Sjaella. As if through multi-colored church windows, he illuminates the monophonic songs about the love of God and the sins of mankind anew.