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Tuesday, May 02, 2023

Blank Out at Cal Performances

Against a black background, a blond woman in a red dress is upright but crumpled on the left side of the stage. Her head is bowed. On the right, a man's head looms out of a pile of leaves. The head and leaves are projected on the black background and are much larger than the woman.

Miah Persson (Woman) and Roderick Williams (Man) in
Michel van der Aa's Blank Out
Photo: Marco Borgrevve, courtesy of Cal Performances

 I saw Michel van der Aa's Blank Out at Cal Performances over the weekend, and wow. A very beautiful and moving work. I was reminded of Kaija Saariaho's remarks about her string quartet Terra Memoria:

The piece is dedicated "for those departed". Some thoughts about this: we continue remembering the people who are no longer with us; the material - their life - is "complete", nothing will be added to it. Those of us who are left behind are constantly reminded of our experiences together: our feelings continue to change about different aspects of their personality, certain memories keep on haunting us in our dreams. Even after many years, some of these memories change, some remain clear flashes which we can relive.

Blank Out is very much about the relationships between the living and the dead, about memory and grief.

I have to note that I have missed several local appearances, with Philharmonia Baroque, by baritone Roderick Williams. I had previously seen him in person in the last SFS War Requiem and in London in Birtwistle's Yan Tan Tethera. He is a great singer and I am so very sorry to have missed those local appearances.

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