the piece

Musical and choreographic work
for a dancer,
a singer and a cellist.

The piece is constructed in a succession of different scenes inspired by texts and fragments by Rainer Maria Rilke, which develop a poetic link between each other.

From this link emerges a lyrical narration on the unavoidable aloneness of the being facing himself, as evoked by Rainer Maria Rilke in the Letters to a young poet.

The singer and the dancer represent two sides of a same person, the cello symbolizes the string of life. Singing and dancing mingle until each performer borrows the discipline of the other including it in a more primal and primitive way in his/her expression.

As human beings part of the cycle of life, we were born, we build ourselves, we try to do something, to find our place in the world, we create other human beings, art, machines, money, power, we struggle through life with more or less joy, then we die. And this is so important and meaningless at the same time that it is beautiful. What makes it that way is that we all do it in our own particular manner, building as many worlds as they are beings, and we all do it all alone. Alone, because no matter how much love we receive from others, how many friends and family surround and support us, we still are the only one living in this exact world created by one’s subjectivity.
Rilke’s words, especially in the Letters To A Young Poet strongly speak to me because at some point they connect a knowledge and acceptance of this unavoidable state of solitude with a greater love:

“It is also good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love: it is something they must learn. With their whole being, with all their forces, gathered around their solitary, anxious, upward-beating heart, they must learn to love. But learning-time is always a long, secluded time, and therefore loving, for a long time ahead and far on into life, is: solitude, a heightened and deepened kind of aloneness for the person who loves. Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person (for what would a union be of two people who are unclarified, unfinished, and still incoherent?), it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distances. Only in this sense, as the task of working on themselves ("to hearken and to hammer day and night"), may young people use the love that is given to them. Merging and surrendering and every kind of communion is not for them (who must still, for a long, long time, save and gather themselves); it is the ultimate, is perhaps that for which human lives are as yet barely large enough.”

Using the expression possibilities and evocation strength of the two primary musical expression forms that are singing and dancing is a way to talk with something everybody feels familiar with.
These two primary forms of expression allow working at the same time with the most primitive and sophisticated expression, to confront and make both ways complement each other. This is also why the dancer and the singer symbolize two sides of a same soul conversing with itself.
For that, I chose to collaborate with a choreographer, a creater, that would also be the interpret of the piece. To find an artistic personality with whom I could feel strong affinities and who possessed a powerful and definite world of expression, was very important. It was primordial that I could imagine this personality potentially being a part of an imaginary world that I hadn’t explore yet, and vice-versa, to consider that our two expressive universes could join forces to represent to sides of the same being.
Kaori Ito, with her strength of expression and her sensitivity as a creator and performer elaborates an extremely personal and poetic world, very different from mine but also in which my universe of sound can find a true echo.
Her ability to express in a very clear, strong and poetic manner, the subtlest human feeling and the most complex, sometimes absurd human condition, directly connects with the way Rilke’s words inspire me. Her use of an imaginary world filled with creatures, sometimes not totally human reveals, in a metaphorical way, an exacerbated human state.

« […] Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich, nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich, der aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht. […]”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Liebes-Lied

Kaori Ito

From the age of five, Kaori studied classical ballet under Takagi Syuntoku in Tokyo. At eighteen years old, she launched her professional career as a dancer and choreographer and was declared by Ryouichi Enomoto to be “the best young dancer and choreographer” at the ST spot, Yokohama (1998).
During her time at Purchase College, State University of New York, she mastered the Graham, Cunningham, Limon, and Horton techniques. In 2002, she was awarded the Yokohama Cultural Foundation Award, for her solo choreography in the "Yokohama Dance Collection competition”. In 2004, she received the National Conference Award for choreographing and performing as part of a duet in Rencontres choregraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis. In 2004, she went to New York under the Japanese Government Overseas Program for Artists. While there she studied at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and worked with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. During her stay in NYC, she also choreographed and danced at Joyce SoHo, and did a residency at the Queens Museum of Art. From 2003 to 2005, she danced the main role for Philippe Découflé in IRIS. She also worked with Veronique Caye for her theatre piece Line by Ryu Murakami. In 2005, she joined Ballet Preljocaj (CCN dʼ Aix-en-Provence) with Angelin Preljocaj for The 4 saisons and went on in 2006 to work with James Thierrée for Good Bye Umbrella.
Moving into the world of film, she took on the position of assistant of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for his film “Le bruit des gens autour” with Lea Drucker. She choreographed Clemence Poesy (Harry Porter) for the film “Sans Moi”, directed by Olivier Panchot. In 2006, her film “Carbon Monoxide” was shown at Centre Pompidou, and film festivals in the U.S.A and Spain. She also worked for Edouard Baer on Looking for Mister Castang as a choreographer.
In 2008, she opened her own production, Noctiluque, produced by Theatre-Vidy, Lausanne, lʼ Avant-Seine/Theatre de Colombes and Theatre dʼOrleans. In 2009, she worked as a soloist in House of the Sleeping Beauties by Guy Cassiers with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. In the same year, she performed SOLOS at the National Theater of
Marseille Le Merlan and in Japan. That same year, she also assisted James Thierrée for Raul and received 1st prize in the competition (Re)connaissance 2009 for her 20 minute performances of Island of no memories.
She is now engaged in Alain Platelʼs/Les Ballets C de la Bʼs Out of Context and was chosen as one of the artists for the Modul-DANCE project programme by EDN (European Dancehouse Network) to create her own works. Kaori is also working for the 2011/2012 season on a duet with Denis Podalydès for La Cas Jekyllun (première June 2011, Maison de la Culture Amiens). Island of no memories will be premièred on the 31st March and the 1st April in Tanzhaus NRW Dusseldorf and the 8-9th April in Hellerau Dresden.

www.kaoriito.com

Chloé Lévy

Vocalist, improviser, classical singer, Chloé Lévy comes from a family of artists (musicians, painter, stage director, actor, street artist). She obtains a professional diploma in Jazz singing at the Ecole de Jazz et Musique Actuelles of Lausanne then studies classical singing and musicology and obtains a diploma in both disciplines from the Haute école de Musique de Genève and the University of Geneva. She’s currently specializing in new music doing a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in interpretation of contemporary music in the conservatoire HEM of Lugano with Luisa Castellani.
Chloé Lévy studied jazz singing with Susanne Abbuehl. She intensively worked classical singing, interpretation and repertoire with Audrey Michael.
Chloé Lévy received the Friedl Wald Grant in 2004 and was laureate of the Nescafé jazz soloist competition in 2005. In 2010 she won the grant of the cultural department of Geneva and is attributed a six months residency in Berlin (July to December 2011).
From 2000, Chloé Lévy plays in duo with the French pianist Michel Bastet. She develops her own musical language, working with instrumental pieces, arranging them for her voice. They elaborate together a dialogue largely including jazz and free improvisation. Chloé Lévy creates then with Michel Bastet, in 2002, the quartet Kéa (C.Regamey, dr., A. Allflatt, b.) for which she starts to compose.
In 2004 Yannick Délez and Chloé Lévy create a duo and record in 2007 the first CD of the Chloé Lévy Yannick Délez duo “Leinicha” in the Rainbow Studio of Oslo with Jan Erik Kongshaug as sound engineer. Leinicha is acclaimed by the press (Jazzman ****, Télérama ffff, Concerto*****). They are invited to play in the International Festivals of France and Switzerland.
In 2006, Chloé Lévy creates the project Conversation, a project of musical and painting improvisation with the painter Madeleine Spierer. In 2007 she invites the german pianist Ingvo Clauder to participate with Claude Jordan (fl) and Philppe Ehinger (cl) to a second version of the project with electronic audio treatment, Conversation II.
In 2008, Chloé Lévy creates with Audrey Michael a season of classical, jazz, creation, and improvisation concerts in Chambésy. From 2008 she also interprets classic and contemporary music.
In 2009 the Chloé Lévy Yannick Délez Duo is invited by the Cully Classique festival to create music for a nocturn concert around Erik Satie, the duo welcomes then the German cellist Marcus Hagemann and becomes a trio. The same year, Chloé Lévy interprets Nel Giro with Audrey Michael and the philharmonic orchestra of Oradea (Romania) conducted by Leonardo Gasparini, a piece for two sopranos and orchestra by Antoine Duhamel. In 2009, she is invited by the Jazz Onze plus festival to play in quartet with Yannick Délez, Fabien Sévilla and Jérôme Berney.
In 2010, Chloé Lévy creates an ensemble of eleven instrumentists for her recital of diploma, she sings pieces by Mozart, Ravel, Strauss, Delibes, John Tavener and an arrangement by Valentin Peiry of parts of the piece Nel Giro by Antoine Duhamel.
In 2011 she is chosen by William Blank to sing Le Marteau sans Maître by Pierre Boulez and the Cantus Planus by Niccolò Castiglioni . She sang pieces by Carissimi and Monteverdi conducted by Raphael Leite Osorio, and the Akhmatova songs by John Tavener in duo with the cellist Marcus Hagemann. Chloé Lévy also develops and will record a project around Ariel, a song cycle by Ned Rorem, surrounded with improvisation, in trio with the clarinettist Philippe Ehinger et the pianist Ingvo Clauder.
Chloé Lévy sang Hilda’s role in the Elegy of young lovers by Hans-Werner Henze in a concert version in the Auditorium RSI for the Novecento e Presente season in Lugano.

Chloé Lévy took and still takes part to several other projects, some of them are:

• Mo bop, the album « So Strange » wins in 2003 the Diesel U Music Award in the Urban category.
  
• Drumming by Steve Reich with the percussion ensemble of the festival des Jardins Musicaux de Cernier and with Remi Durupt, tour in France.
  
• The Bovard Orchestra, Cully Jazz Festival, festival des Jardins Musicaux de Cernier
  
• Eldissa, album « What a difference » (2005), South American film festival of Biarritz, Bangkok Jazz Festival, Jazzplus Festival Sofia.
  
• Xavier Good Quartet, Montreux Jazz off, International Bern Jazz Festival.
  
• The female vocal ensemble of contemporary music Polhymnia.
  
• Vocus a piece for two sopranos, two monophonic synthesizers, piano, synthesis and tape, by Valentin Peiry, Jazz en Ville Festival, Lausanne.
  
• Big Bang Orkestrâ with Rainer Boesch.
  Opera choir of Lausanne.
  

http://www.chloelevy.com

Marcus Hagemann

Marcus Hagemann was born in Danaueschingen and studied with Lee Fiser and the Lasalle Quartet (Cincinnati), Ulrich Voss (Saarbrücken), as well as William Pleeth and Moray Welsh (London). He was on several occasions awarded first prize of the Concours National d’Allemagne and also won the Concorso Internationale di Caltanissetta (Italy). The city of Konstanz granted him the Kultuförderpreis Musik and the Bayreuther Festspiele awarded him the Richard Wagner scholarship. He also received the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
He has collaborated with renowned musiciens such as Heinrich Schiff, Irvin Arditti, Siegfried Palm, Frans Helmerson and Wolfgang Boettcher. Marcus Hagemann has recorded many radio and television broadcasts as well as CDs with artists such as Eduard Brunner, Giora Feidman, Bernd Glemser, Bruno Giuranna, Oliver Kern, Etta Scollo Dimitri Ashkenazy, Muriel Cantoreggi, Finghin Collins and Bertrand Chamayou.
Founding member of the Quatuor Talis in 1995, five years later he created the TRIOSKOP. His tours have led him to renowned concert halls and festivals such as the Barbican Hall in London, the Cincinnati Music Hall, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Musikhalle Hamburg, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Kultur und Kongressaal Graz, the Minoritensaal Graz, the Prinzregenten Theater München, the Sala Mereilles Rio de Janeiro, the Sala Sao Paulo, the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Musikfestival and the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Kona-Kohala Music Festival Hawaii, the Mozarteum Sao Paulo and the Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker. Marcus Hagemann plays on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello from 1853.

www.marcushagemann.de