Between Two Lights

Between Two Lights

World premiere by composer and conductor Huang Ruo

Open your gaze and explore the boundless horizon

What happens between a life that ends and whatever comes next?
Is there an in-between – a moment when we are no longer who we were, but not yet who we will become? Between Two Lights is neither narrative music theatre nor a classical concert. It is a sensory listening experience. A journey to the edge of existence – and back again.

Source of inspiration
Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo found the roots of this composition in the Heart Sutra, a Buddhist text in which emptiness and form flow into one another. Not abstract mysticism, but a guide to something we all face: the elusive moment between farewell and beginning.

A personal story
During the pandemic, Huang Ruo lost his mother. He returned to his birthplace and took part in a traditional seven-day mourning ritual, followed by six weeks of bardo – a time of transition. Of silence. Of searching. From that personal loss, the first notes of this composition emerged.

Mantras in motion and sound
Between Two Lights is built on musical mantras: patterns that are not only heard, but physically felt. Sound as a carrier of rhythm, breath, and memory. Sixteen singers of the Netherlands Chamber Choir, performer Grace Ellen Barkey, and Huang Ruo move through the space. Their voices and bodies resonate, amplified by silence. Voice becomes movement. Emptiness takes form.

Shared gaze
Under the direction of Aïda Gabriëls and Tido Visser, the audience is not a spectator but a participant. Not guided toward an answer, but toward an experience. We move from the outside in, from the personal to the universal, and back to what that means for each of us, here and now. Are we willing to face the moment when everything falls silent? The not-knowing. The emptiness. That which connects us all, but is rarely named.

In co-production with Muziektheater Transparant, HERMESensemble and Needcompany. In collaboration with De Singel Antwerp, Concertgebouw Bruges, and with the support of the Belgian Federal Government’s Tax Shelter. Between Two Lights is made possible by the Elise Mathilde Fund and the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.

On 22 May, Joep Stapel will give an introduction at Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam.

  • Nederlands Kamerkoor, Muziektheater Transparant, HERMESensemble and Needcompany
  • Huang Ruo
    concept | composition | libretto | conductor
  • Gaetan La Mela and Wim Pelgrims
    percussion
  • Grace Ellen Barkey
    performance
  • Aïda Gabriëls en Tido Visser
    staging
  • Peter Quasters
    lighting design
  • Maarten van Mulken
    costume design
  • Lise Bruyneel
    live video
  • Mirjam Devriendt and Barbara Raes
    videography and artistic advice interviews
  • Shuang Zou
    dramaturgical advice

Between Two Lights has been nominated by the prestigious FEDORA for their biennial Opera Prize. The jury praised the work for its courageous attempt to break the taboo surrounding death and make it a subject of reflection. We are also in the running for the Audience Award — cast your vote before April 18 to help bring this remarkable piece to the international stage!

Huang Ruo: “Between Two Lights is a passage enabling both the dead and the living to travel in between. It’s about dimming the light of one’s heart and mind in order to search for the next light. Vocal theatre Between Two Lights is a ritual, a requiem, and a lullaby.”

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