Darkness and Light
Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle
2014
Darkness and Light is a remarkable collaboration between artist Lynette Wallworth and organist, composer and conductor Bernard Foccroulle that transcends the conventional form of the organ recital.
Taking its title from a work by leading Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, the performance ranges across 350 years of organ music: from the baroque constructions of Bach and Buxtehude and Messiaen's ecstatic celebration of God and Nature, to the evocative sound pictures of Toshio Hosokawa, all performed by Foccroulle. Wallworth’s two-channel video projections accompany each piece, the combined work revealing new visual and acoustic appreciations of organ music.
- Credits
—Darkness and Light was created by Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle in 2014. Produced by Karsten Witt Musik Management in association with Forma. A co-production by Palais des Beaux-Arts, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Southbank Centre, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Laeiszhalle und Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Concert en congresgebouw de Doelen and Adelaide Festival. Supported by Arts Council England.
Performance of Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle's Darkness and Light, Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Kawasaki, Japan, 2015. Photo: S.Aoyagi
Performance of Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle's Darkness and Light, Sydney Town Hall, Sydney, Australia, 2015. Photo: Prudence Upton
Performance of Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle's Darkness and Light, Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Kawasaki, Japan, 2015. Photo: S.Aoyagi
Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle, Darkness and Light, 2014 (still)
Wallworth’s commission presents rich imagery drawing together evocative portraits of Australian landscapes, natural and man-made, with astronomical footage contributed by NASA. The images and music, in continual conversation, amplify and reshape each other, becoming a powerful and emotive reflection on the forces that bind humanity, landscape and the cosmos.
Lynette Wallworth's video and photographic art has been shown in festivals from Vienna to Sundance, from the Lincoln Center to the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Her work movingly explores the relationship of humans to the natural world and she has worked with composer György Kurtàg, songwriter Antony Hegarty, ENO and the Young Vic.
Bernard Foccroulle, born in Liège, Belgium, began his international career as an organist in the mid-70s, playing a wide range of repertoire from renaissance to contemporary. In addition to solo organ recitals and chamber music projects, an important aspect of Foccroulle's work is collaboration with other art forms such as his work with choreographer and dancer Salva Sanchis, and concerts with singer and oud player Moneim Adwan.
Previous presentations
2017
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White Light Festival, Lincoln Center, New York, USA
2015
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Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, Omiyacho, Japan
2014
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Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom
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Background image: Lynette Wallworth and Bernard Foccroulle, Darkness and Light, 2014 (still)