Freelight

The composition was commissioned under the “Composers’ Commissions” programme of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage by the violinist Jolanta Sosnowska. The piece explores the theme of freedom across multiple dimensions: the inner freedom of the individual, the relationship between the individual and society, and society in relation to the individual. It reflects on the freedom we can grant ourselves—the permission to be who we truly are and to discover our authentic selves—contrasted with the tendency to adopt masks, assume roles, and fulfill both internal and external expectations. Rather than presenting this in a grand or rhetorical way, the work points to something more subtle: a small, inherent core within each person—a seed of what is genuinely true about oneself, and, in that sense, a form of freedom. The text of FREELIGHT for Violin and Choir (2020) is asemantic, and the vocal parts are sometimes treated like instruments. In my view, an asemantic mode of expression is a more open and primal (in a sense, undisturbed by following verbal meaning) carrier of the emotional and energetic content of sound.

The project is organized by the VOKUMENTA festival, co-organized by the Warsaw branch of the Polish Musicians’ Association, and funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland from the Culture Promotion Fund, as part of the “Composers’ Commissions” programme implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance, as well as by the Authors’ Association ZAiKS. 28 December 2020 at 7:00 PM — livestream from St. Elisabeth Church, 1040 Vienna. Performers: Vienna Soloists Choir, Jolanta Sosnowska – violin, Michał Kucharko – conductor