With Darkness and Light, the Belgian organist and composer Bernard Foccroulle and the Australian artist Lynette Wallworth have created a concert experience that goes beyond the boundaries of the traditional organ recital.
Darkness & Light
“DARKNESS & LIGHT” ORGAN and VIDEO
Concept
“DARKNESS & LIGHT” ORGAN AND VIDEO – A RECITAL Bernard Foccroulle (organ) / Lynette Wallworth (video)
With Darkness and Light, the Belgian organist and composer Bernard Foccroulle and the Australian artist Lynette Wallworth have developed a concert experience that moves beyond the boundaries of the traditional organ recital. The project combines a wide-ranging program of organ works spanning four centuries with video projections shown on two separate screens, inviting audiences to hear and see organ music anew.
The carefully curated musical selection traces musical and thematic correspondences between works by composers such as Bach, Messiaen, and Alain, alongside contemporary pieces by Sofia Gubaidulina, Toshio Hosokawa, and Foccroulle himself. The rich symbolism of Wallworth’s video art brings together evocative portraits of Australian landscapes - both natural and man-made - with astronomical imagery. In a constant dialogue, images and music continually reinterpret one another, coming together as a powerful and emotional reflection on the forces that bind humanity, landscape, and the cosmos.
“The video images were as majestic as the organ sounds… a magnificent experience… These sounds left a deep impression.” - De Standaard, Brussels, 19 March 2014
Cast
Bernard Foccroulle
The elegance of the vocal line, at times feverish, at times reflective, the evocative power of the orchestration, the expression, which is as intense in its brilliant power as it is in its contemplation – all this suggests that we are dealing with a masterpiece. LE MONDE, September 2020 – about E vidi quattro stelle
Bernard Foccroulle, born in Liège (Belgium) in 1953, combines a wide variety of aspects in his musical biography: his work as a composer, organist and artistic director of important institutions makes him one of the outstanding musical personalities of our time.
References
"Darkness and Light is an artistic meeting of opposites in every sense. Sound and vision, black and white, life and death, movement and stasis, flood and drought, hopes and fears…(…) give yourself to these two artists and your attention will be held for an unbroken 70 minutes – and it’s not that often one can say that."
LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE, Clive Paget, 10/01/2015 – about the performance of Darkness and Light in Sydney