INNER LIFE

Composer

Wim Henderickx, Inner Life (2023)

Musicians

Marc Tooten/Esther Coorevits (viola, Chinese violin)
Stijn Saveniers/Jasmijn Lootens (cello, crwt)
Karin de Fleyt/ Mar Sala Romagosa (flute, shakuhachi)
Peter Merckx/Freya Bovijn (clarinet)
Geert Callaert/Ward De Jonghe (piano, guzheng)
Gaetan La Mela/Wim Pelgrims (percussion)
Mireille Capelle/Esther Rispens (vocals)

directing and scenography

Aïda Gabriëls

In cooperation with

Inspiratum
Nemᴓ ensemble
Muziektheater Transparant
KLARA Festival

Choir direction

Bart Patoor / Céline Di Maccio: Dame Fortuna
Esther-Elisabeth Rispens / Annelies Gebruers / Heidi De Nef: Municipal Conservatoire Mechelen

Directional assistance

Ferenc Balcaen

Dramaturgy

Kevin Voets

Light design

Peter Quasters

Sound engineer | Sound design

Bart Celis

Soundscape

Jorrit Tamminga

Thanks to

Madam Fortuna, Luc Nys and BBC Willibies Antwerp vzw, Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government

Inner Life is as much a composition as it is an alchemical formula – or a game. It is a recipe for an artistic experiment in which all possible musical personalities and groups can participate.

Wim Henderickx composes a new score, with a duration of seven times seven minutes, for a basic instrumentation of seven ‘initiates’. The score is partly through-composed, partly open-ended. Precisely notated in some places, graphically rendered in others. The piece is ‘web-structured’: on the one hand, it consists of musical objects – some melodic, some timbrel in nature, some concrete, others aleatory. On the other hand, different ‘performance strategies’ or paths are proposed.

The composition starts from a basic line-up of seven performers, but has several ‘gateways’: passages to other performance layers, which performers can interpret. A performance of Inner Life is always different. In principle, the work can be played by seven performers. But Inner Life is also suitable for involving many more people in the alchemical crucible, including larger groups of performers. Choirs, brass bands, and musical societies of different levels can participate and collaborate in a living laboratory, experimentally creating a new work of art and experience.