The Premiere of Riemke Ensing’s poems Storm Warning, set to music by Alex van den Broek will take place at Christchurch WORD (Writers & Readers) Festival on Friday 29 August at 7.30pm in the Linwood Community Arts Centre.
This is an exciting new work for vocalist and a chamber ensemble consisting of oboe, clarinet, trombone and percussion.
‘The work explores the boundaries between the genres of classical and jazz to realise the colour and depth of the poems.
Van den Broek and Ensing have a strong artistic rapport and shared experiences of immigration and dual identity.
Much of the imagery in the text centres around coastal images, bush, rocks, hills and spiritual resting places.
Vocalist Naomi Ferguson is a dramatic and expressive singer who forms a centre point for the work, delivering and interpreting the text, around which the ensemble thread a distinct and evocative musical world.’