The Festival Composer of this year´s Trondheim Chamber Music Festival is Michel van der Aa from Holland. As well as composing, he has studied sound engineering and film directing.Van der Aa is an artist who works on the cutting edge of sound, between acoustic and electronic, live and recorded. He creates multimedia works in which music and video join in a creative synthesis the likes of which has never been seen before!

The Trondheim Chamber Music Festival will feature nine works by van der Aa spread over six concerts, one of which will be a concert devoted only to van der Aa´s work. Here we will hear the Finnish clarinet virtuoso Kari Kriikku playing Hysteris (2013), for clarinet and Sinfonietta. Another highlight of the program is Up-close (2010) for cello, strings and film, which will be performed by Fredrik Schøyen Sjølin, the cellist from the Danish String Quartet together with the Trondheim Soloists.

The Chamber Opera Blank Out, from 2016, is festival composer Michel van der Aa´s most ambitious and exciting work, written for soprano (live), baritone (film), chamber choir (recorded) and electronic music. The opera´s scenic landscape is created using hi-tech surround soundtrack and 3D film projection.

The opera's libretto is built on texts from the South African poet Ingrid Jonker. this deeply moving story is about a grown man who must confront his childhood trauma. Van der Aa uses music, newly developed techniques and interactive 3D film to explore the way in which we humans can reconstruct memories and deal with traumatic events from the past. Blank Out has received rave reviews, including in the New York Times with the title «High Tech meets High Art in a 3D Opera». After sold out performances in New York last autumn, the opera will now have its Scandinavian premiere at the Trondheim Chamber Music Festival.

Works by van der Aa to be played at the festival

For the Time Being (2012-17)
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo soprano
Malin William-Olsson, violin
R Stotijn, double bass
Trygve Brøske, piano

Up-close, for cello, strings and film (2010)
Fredrik Schøyen Sjølin, cello
Trondheim Soloists, leader Geir Inge Lotsberg

Spaces of Blank (2007)
Christianne Stotijn, mezzo soprano
Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing

Transit, for piano and film (2009)
Trygve Brøske, piano

Mask (2006)
Trondheim Sinfonietta, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing

Hysteresis (2013)
Kari Kriikku, clarinet
Trondheim Sinfonietta, cond. Anna-Maria Helsing

Quadrivial (1997)
Students from NTNU (Norwegian University of Technology and Science)

Blank Out (2016)
Miah Persson, soprano + 3D video

Memo, for violin and portable cassette recorder (2003)
Colin Scobie, violin (violinist from Maxwell String Quartet)