Fragments of Decay is an original composition by Pablo Garayoa that serves as a new score, replacing the original by Robb van Sintemaartensdijk for the short film Fragments of Decay by Dutch experimental filmmaker Henri Plaat. The composition is written for ensemble and tape and is intended to be performed alongside the short film.

This performance aims to introduce Dutch experimental filmmaker Henri Plaat to both international and local audiences, and it seeks to merge live music with film, while creating an experience that gives the audience an understanding of the relationship between sound and image. Furthermore, the film’s central message remains highly relevant today, addressing, among other themes, the mistreatment of the past.

The instrumentation includes oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone, horn, viola, cello, piano and percussions.

The project presents some arrangements of XX century neo baroque (baroque-inspired) works by Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke and Ernst Pepping, with recomposed material from four compositions in terms of form and instrumentation (clarinet, classical guitar, harpsichord, double bass). Through this project, the Acanthus Ensemble is willing to break the boundaries between pre-written and improvised music. The group is formed by jazz and classical musicians, researching common grounds to make music together.

The performance of It was snowing Butterflies tries to bring the public’s attention to the ongoing climatic crisis and the need to address it at a local as well as governmental level if the environment is to be safeguarded. The focal point of the performance will be the newly composed piece by Patrick van Deurzen “It was snowing butterflies”, which will receive its world premiere for the occasion, brought to dialogue with Nobel-winning author Han Kang, who evokes very similar atmospheres to van Deurzen in a passage from her latest book, “We do not part”. The musical contrasts in It was snowing Butterflies should evoke the desire to safeguard the environment and all of its ecosystems in the public, by seeing the traumatic, critical moment we are living as an opportunity to radically rethink our relationship to the planet.

The instrumentation includes: violin, cello, piano. Spoken words, soundscape and video projection are incorporated into the performance.