Instrumentation: 2*.2*.2*.2* / 4.3.2.1 / timp, perc / str (afl, ca, bcl, cbn)
The work is inspired by the sculpture Auroras Seger by Staffan Nihlen placed under the bridge Kvarnbron in Gävle, Sweden.
Aurōra is the Roman Goddess of dawn and announced the arrival of the sun every morning. Aurōra is the Latin word for dawn, daybreak, and sunrise. She symbolizes new beginnings and the opportunities that the new day offers.
Aurōra is dedicated to singer and musician Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who created endlessly beautiful music with, among others, the Choir af Young Believers. Jannis passed away, much too young, in December 2022. Aurōra was written in a time of mourning, and the movement from darkness into light, is dedicated to Jannis, his memory that will stay with us forever vibrant and present.
The music begins in a lower register of the lowest sounding instruments of the orchestra in woodwinds, brass and strings, all the way to the gran cassa. Throughout the work, more light and higher pitches are introduced, ending in a bright day with the sound of tubular bells, calling for the morning to begin, and the solo flute and solo violin to salute the light before disappearing into silence.
The work is intended to become a multi-channel sound installation and will be installed under the Kvarnbron, just by the sculpture Auroras Seger in June 2024.
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Danish American Lil Lacy is a composer whose curiosity is at the center of her music. She works with the meeting of medias and genres, focusing on the connectivity within music. Creating without the limitations of the classical structures, Lacy is also a performer, a singer and experimental cellist. This unique perspective offers her music a malleability to space.
Lacy’s music is born in the meeting with performers, audiences, and space. From installation to orchestra, she creates tailor-made universes, claiming the right to be heard.
Lacy has composed for orchestra, choir, installations and electronics, and in collaboration with art films, theatre, visual arts and dance. Her curiosity allows her to move between worlds, bringing herself into each one, whilst absorbing a bit of them, each time.
Her first orchestral work Aliento del Mar, written for accordionist Bjarke Mogensen and Gävle Symphony Orchestra, is inspired by the movement of the tide, the push and pull of large forces. The music, as does nature, constantly transforms, from something that can barely be heard, to something than can barely be stopped again (Arbetarbladet 2021). With her use of plastic bags, Lacy deepens the ocean sound, whilst highlighting the issue of plastic waste in our waters.