Laughter Studies – Nadar Ensemble

In the months leading up to the festival, the Gaudeamus Award and the Ensemble Award (Nadar and Catchpenny) nominees have been working hard behind the scenes on new musical creations. The Belgian Nadar Ensemble has collaborated with the young music pioneers Remy Siu and Kelley Sheehan. In both cases, this has resulted in new works featuring a major role for modern technology.

Siu is developing an interactive game for four players and Sheehan is writing a new piece for guitar, flute, clarinet and iPads. In this case the iPads do not function as a musical score or video screen, but are fully-fledged members of the instrumental group. Finally, Nadar also plays Laughter Studies 7 by Louis D’Heudières, whom they got to know during the Nadar Summer School in 2017. A vocal work focusing on man-made sounds (or lack thereof), such as laughter, crying, breathing. Breathe in, breathe out…