Kris Defoort once again joins musical forces with one of his long-standing artistic companions: Hungarian singer/improviser Veronika Harcsa. After being completely absorbed by his opera The Time of Our Singing, Defoort went in search of something more light-hearted. This led him to the cycle Pieces of Peace, an elegant balancing act between chamber music and jazz.
Pieces present joyful, melancholic, sparkling and subdued musical reflections on poems by Theodore Roethke, Peter Verhelst, William Blake and Fernando Pessoa, among others. Originated as improvisations by two artists who collaborated for over a decade, the pieces grew into compositions to be performed by a quintet.
Cellist Lode Vercampt, clarinettist Jean-Philippe Poncin and guitarist Benjamin Sauzereau each add a personal expertise and touch to the music. While the versatile Harcsa embraces the human voice in all its facets, mixing improvised compositions with composed improvisations.
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