Rothko Chapel

"The best picture
of a picture
is not a picture"
(Charles Bernstein: Shadowtime)

Morton Feldman’s homage to a friend who committed suicide bears the name of a sanctuary for people of all religious persuasions in Houston. Shadowtime, the joint project of composer Brian Ferneyhough and writer Charles Bernstein, draws on the ideas of Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin. In the final scene of the opera the angel choir from Dürer’s Melancholy sings to Benjamin. Completing the programme is a work commissioned by the Helsinki Chamber Choir from Maija Hynninen. The closing concert thus begins with a song without words and culminates in the made-up language of Bernstein and Ferneyhough.

Helsinki Chamber Choir
Conductor Nils Schweckendiek
Viola Christophe Desjardins
Celesta Anna Kuvaja
Percussions Antti Suoranta
Electronics James Andean

Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel
John Cage: Dream
Maija Hynninen: Slutförvaringen – kuinka puoliintuminen meitä
liikuttaa, premiere
Brian Ferneyhough: Stelæ for Failed time
(Solo for Melancholia as the Angel of History)

• Sandels, Gyllenberg Hall
• Tickets 10 / 7 €
• Tiketti and at the door one hour beforehand.
• www.helsinginkamarikuoro.fi

Mark Rothko, 1964-1967, Oil on canvas, Northwest, North, and Northeast wall paintings. Photographer: Hickey-Robertson.
Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel
John Cage, composing at the piano (1948). Courtesy of the John Cage Trust.
Helsinki Chamberchoir: Photographer Markku Pihlaja
Maija Hynninen: Photographer Saara Vuorjoki / Fimic
Morton Feldman: Morton Feldman Papers, Music Library, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
Nils Schweckendiek: Photographer Marco Borggreve