In the Lombok district of Utrecht, within walking distance of the city centre, stands a unique sawmill: De Ster (The Star). An idyllic spot completely isolated from the hectic city, surrounded by water and greenery. Here Gaudeamus, in the context of Open Monumentendag, presents an accessible programme (with free admission) both inside the mill and outdoors.
Photo ‘The Voice of the Mill’ © Clara Rivière Visier
17:00-17:45 | The Voice of the Mill – Iris van der Ende / Yvonne Freckmann
Theatre producer/harpist Iris van der Ende and composer Yvonne Freckmann have together created a performance in which the mill is literally given a voice. An acoustic installation is attached to the mill’s sails. The sound the sails make blends together with harp music and some storytelling. While Van der Ende describes the relationship the miller has with his mill, the harp answers the sound coming from it. How the performance sounds depends on the strength of the wind. Sometimes the mill whispers, sometimes it sings, but the wind always disturbs and confuses the composition. The audience sits outside, at the foot of the mill. Gazing at its unleashed sails, you hear how the mill receives a voice.
18:00-18:30 | Goya – Giuseppe Doronzo
The Italian baritone saxophonist Giuseppe Doronzo presents his first solo album, Goya. Doronzo explores a vocabulary in which contemporary music, jazz improvisation and non-Western musical traditions come together.
His inspiration comes from both urban and natural environments and electronic sounds. This results in an introspective experience of the sounds made by the baritone sax. With his saxophone playing, whether solo or with, for example, the Ava Trio, Benjamin Herman and Michael Moore, he has already made a good impression on both press and public.
18:30-19:00 | Maya Fridman & Gagi Petrovic
This electro-acoustic duo, consisting of cello, live electronics and two voices (mezzo soprano and bass-baritone), have an explorative and expressive approach. Fridman and Petrovic make hybrid music, both stylistically and technologically. They integrate musical elements from different practices such as classical, contemporary composition, songwriting, underground electronics and their shared background in Eastern European music. The sound of their voices and that of the cello are combined with the recently developed technological instrument GEST, which creates auditive transformations by means of hand gestures. Fridman and Petrovic make new connections between old and new instruments and sing songs the like of which you have never heard before.