e n s e m b l e
Burak Özdemir. concept & bassoon
Diana Ramirez . voice
Tim Willis . violin
Annie Gard . violin
Chang Yun Yoo . viola
Linda Mantcheva . cello
Mirjam Wittulski . bass
Daniel Trumbull . organ
Charlie Zhang . lute
Daniel Mulder . visuals
Justus Beyer . sound
Burcu Özdemir . costume
Alessandro Seggioli . production
Burak’s passion for spiritual music, reflected in his essential projects „Bach : The Silent Cantata“ and “Bach : Atlas Passion”, is now expanded in an exquisite modern form, where an utopian audio-visual landscape surrounds the reclining listeners. OPIUM is an interactive modality, whereby the audience connects to their inner self, to the energy of the other participants and to the immersive architectural space, created by the musical and visual elements.
Compositionally it combines baroque music with today’s new age lyricism. In OPIUM the music grows into a tender and pervasive part of the total environment, almost like a lullaby, these sonic motions gather in a virtual cloud, transporting the listeners and making them feel like they are living inside this utopian world. The work is committed to people of today and the torrent of information that many of us face every day. We all have to make multiple choices, so that our minds are pushed to the limits, OPIUM becomes a pause and a place for us to re-calibrate. It’s a place, in which the listeners can settle for a while and emerge, when they are ready to rejoin the restive world.
World Premiere on 15 May 2021 at the International BachFest Schaffhausen.