The Balanescu Quartet
Music & Film : 'Second Breath' + 'Play'
Wednesday 18 June : 8pm
£17.50 seated : £12.50 standing
Second Breath is a life-affirming reflection on the life of sculptor and Bergen-Belsen survivor Maurice Blik, whose stunning bronzes suggest an awakening from the ashes of the Holocaust. Play is composed for rare footage of the Ballets Russes in playful moments on an Australian beach in the 1930s. With spins and leaps in the sand, members of the legendary dance troupe display youthful energy and have fun with the camera. Maurice Blik will be present for a Q&A.
Book through NAC Box Office on 01603 660352 or Online through UEA:
Second Breath
Play (Ballet Russe on the Beach 1936/40)
Alexander Balanescu violin
James Shenton violin
Katie Wilkinson viola
Nick Holland cello
Film Director: Gillian Lacey
Music: Alexander Balanescu
Appearing prominently in Michael Nyman's scoring for Peter Greenaway films, Alexander Balanescu's virtuoso violin is no stranger to the screen, and the Balanescu Quartet has built a strong reputation for its well-integrated multi-media performances.
Second Breath is a deeply moving reflection on the life and work of acclaimed London-based sculptor and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivor Maurice Blik.
Tracing the young Maurice’s life from pre-war days in Holland, to London after the war, and focussing on his work as a creator of striking and beautiful sculptures, the film builds up a portrait of a man and an artist whose positive life is always shot through with flashbacks to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. The music lilts and flows, but darker moments are never far.
Maurice Blik himself will be there for questions and answers after the performance.
'Second Breath is a deeply affecting body of work, both harrowing and haunting [yet] a celebration of life … [with a] masterful score choreographed by virtuoso violinist and composer Alex Balanescu, the soaring voice of his violin used to great emotional effect.' MUSIC OMH
Still from Second Breath
Play is composed for rare unearthed footage of the Ballet Russe in unguarded moments at play on an Australian beach in the 1930s. Various versions of the world’s legendary dance troupe had in the 30s visited Australia for sold out concert performances.
Here we catch them on their days off, enjoying the sun and sea, a picnic, and playfully taking their performance to the beach, with leaps and turns in the sand, enacting scenes from their favourite ballets with mock seriousness and unguarded youthful energy. All of it was captured in early colour and black and white film by an amateur cameraman.
Still from Play