The work "Drone Mass" by the pioneering contemporary composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, who passed away in 2018, will be experienced on Monday, October 16 at Kulttuuritalo, when the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and the Theater of Voices perform the work under the direction of choir director-conductor Paul Hillier. Tickets for the unique event will go on sale on Wednesday, March 8 at 9 a.m. at Lippu.fi.
During his career, Icelandic composer-producer and multi-instrumentalist Jóhann Jóhannson, who charmed with his productivity and creativity, became known for his genre-reshaping music that weaves together the formal languages of classical and electronic music and ambient soundscapes. The composer virtuoso is especially remembered for the music composed for Denis Villeneuve's films "Sicario", "Prisoners" and "Arrival" and for the soundtrack of the film Theory of Everything, which was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.
The music composed for the film "Mandy" starring Panos Cosmatos and Nicolas Cage was not released until after Jóhannsson's death. Pushing melodies filled with emotion through digital filters, Jóhannsson also composed a lot of music for, for example, TV series (e.g. "The Handmaid's Tale", "The OA"), theater and dance works, and also released several solo albums during his career. The sci-fi film "Last and First Men" directed by Jóhannsson and narrated by Tilda Swinton had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 and received widespread acclaim.
"Drone Mass", which premiered in New York's Metropolitan Museum in 2015, was called a modern oratorio and drew influences from minimalism, church music, and electronic music, and was finally released as an album last year. The work's impressive choruses, combined with powerful string melodies and drone effects, create a completely unique hypnotic sound world, into which you can immerse yourself.
JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON
Drone Mass
ACME
-Ben Russell, violin
-Laura Lutzke, violin
-Isabel Hagen, viola
-Clarice Jensen, cello & artistic director
Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Browton
-Signe Asmussen
-Iris Oja
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Jakob Skjoldborg
-William Gaunt
-Jakob Bloch Jespersen
Adam Wiltzie, live electronics
David Sheppard, sound design
Paul Hillier, artistic director & conductor