"With success Verstockt juxtaposes courtly love with virtual and pornographic love in HRZSCHMRZ. With a lot of irony the composer criticizes today’s ‘sharing civilization’ where everything, including the most intimate things, is shared with ‘friends’. Although we ‘share’ everything, Verstockt managed to make us aware of the paradoxical loneliness in our social society."
Yarrid Dhooghe
In the opera HRZSCHMRZ Serge Verstockt and ChampdAction put the spotlight on ‘love’. They ponder the ever advancing digital world that engulfs us in our daily reality.
Today’s world is a virtual one. Through social media, we 'share' our most intimate affairs – births, happiness and unhappiness – for our ‘virtual’ friends to enjoy. For certain groups, living on the Internet goes a lot further. Hikikomori – a growing number of Japanese gamers – refuse to leave their rooms where they fulfil all their needs on the Internet: 3D sex games feed the libido while their uttermost desire is to marry avatars.
Is this virtual love a modern version of the medieval courtly love? Are Hikikomori the modern knights of these times? Space and time are colliding in the virtual world. Everything and everyone is constantly available: glued to our laptops, tablets and smartphones for 24 hours a day – connected in solitude.
HRZSCHMRZ balances between two worlds: one of virtual action heroes, internet angels and avatars and one of musicians of flesh and blood with different musical backgrounds. 'Troubadour' Guido Belcanto shares the stage with classic, free jazz and pop musicians who serenade love through the music of Perotinus, Buddy Holly and Belgian New Beat.
CREDITS
Concept, muziek, visuals Serge Verstockt dramaturgie Annemarie Peeters technisch coördinator Jean-Pierre Deschepper elektronica ChampdAction/Studio geluidstechniek Istvan Leel-Össy, Dominik Boiy, Christophe Van Craenenbroeck live electronics, sound design, keyboards Benjamin Van Esser videotechniek/avatars Vincent Jacobs lichtontwerp Harry Cole, Sylvia Cuyken contrabas, synthesizer Ann Eysermans harp, zang Astrin Phospora saxofoon, zang, woord Audrey Lauro gitaar, stem Ko Kowalsky viool Takao Hyakutome contrabas Peter Jacquemyn keyboards Yutaka Oya drums Decap Herentals zang Guido Belcanto zang Jonathan De Ceuster megafoons Megaphone Ensemble o.l.v. Jo Caimo technisch assistent Dimitri Daggelinckx recordings Alides Hidding, Jan Blieck, Martin Janssen, Teun Verbruggen coördinatie en productie Pauline Jocqué administratie Leen Bastiaens algemeen management Ann Andries