Stravinsky’s LES NOCES by Cappella Amsterdam, New European Ensemble and Zero Dance Theatre

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Built from instrumental force and vocal vigour, Stravinsky’s vision of the wedding is taken up by contemporary performers and expanded through their contrasting disciplines. Cappella Amsterdam, the New European Ensemble, and Zero Dance Theatre bring his work to the stage in its rarely heard 1919 instrumentation, foregrounding Stravinsky’s fascination with rhythm, mechanics, and sonic precision through cimbaloms, harmonium, and pianola.

From the opening moments, the collaboration sprouts from contrast. Musicians and dancers occupy the space as distinct presences, their differences in movement, sound, and energy immediately visible. A configuration that is deliberately unsettled and almost ill-fitting. Rather than smoothing these elements into a unified whole, the performance looks for that clash to create a sense of fragmentation that mirrors the work’s own rhythmic brutality. Emerges a field in which music, voice, and movement negotiate their shared ground.[…]

The pianola melodically emerges. Stravinsky’s fascination with the instrument lay in its ability to exceed the human hand. In this performance, the pianola reveals how discipline and expression coexist. Heard now, more than a century after the 1919 version was conceived, it becomes a testament to the work’s renewed capacity for connection.”