ORBIT

Can the love of beauty transform into barbarity?

In many of her works, the acclaimed Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023) approached ambivalent cultural figures in order to understand how destructive tendencies can arise not just from the margins of our culture, but from its very heart. Saariaho’s examinations of the poet Ezra Pound — an aesthete turned supporter of Fascism — and of the painter Paul Gauguin, whose time in Tahiti was tainted by exoticism and colonialism, is an invitation to question our collective dark side by looking at the „paradises” we try to create for ourselves.

As reflected by the title of Kaija Saariaho’s chamber work „Sombre”, our collective memories are ambivalent constructs in which we sometimes lose ourselves.

As a tribute to the composer and pioneer of electroacoustic music, world premieres by Jean-Baptiste Barrière and Cécile Marti were commissioned as answers to selected chamber works by Saariaho. The production is curated and staged by writer-director Aleksi Barrière.

Music:
Kaija Saariaho (1952-2023):
Caliban’s Dream (1993/95, Text aus William Shakespeares The Tempest)
NoaNoa (1992, Text from Paul Gaugins Noa Noa)

Cécile Marti (*1973):
‘ŌVIRI (2026, Premiere, Text from Aleksi Barrière)

Kaija Saariaho:
Ciel étoilé (1999)

Jean-Baptiste Barrière (*1958):
Un Tempo di Lampi Senza Tuono (2026, Premiere, Texts from Primo Levi)

Kaija Saariaho:
Sombre (2012, Text from Ezra Pounds Cantos)

Stage:
The stage design includes the sculpture Osiria (2026) by Cécile Marti.

Funded by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.