NADAR Ensemble – Don’t Leave the Room

The iconic poem Don’t Leave The Room from 1969, by Russian poet Joseph Brodsky, has lost none of its relevance today. For the Flemish Nadar Ensemble, it forms the starting point for an interdisciplinary performance about censorship, silence vs speaking out, in dystopias that feel uncomfortably topical.

Alexander Khubeev, winner of the Gaudeamus Award 2015, ‘voices’ Brodsky’s poem about censorship, a pandemic and activism, using sign language. Golnaz Shariatzadeh, nominated for the Award this year, combines music and animation in Blue Womb, a haunting work about the loss of hope in a post-apocalyptic city. In the short film The Chorus by Abbas Kiarostami, an old man struggles with his hearing, as an excuse not to have to listen to the younger generation. And Galina Ustvolskaya’s intense Piano Sonata 6 was revolutionary music that was not allowed to be heard in the USSR.

Alexander Khubeev’s composition is a co-commission of Ultima and Gaudeamus Festival, is part of the Ulysses Platform, and is made possible by financial support from the European Union. This concert is made possible with the support of the Ernst von Siemens foundation.