Paris and Oenone in Vier Heuvels

Recently Age of Bronze played a small role in the creation of a unique musical project, Four Hills—Love in Wartime (‘Vier Heuvels–Liefde in tijden van oorlog’), presented by the Belgian orchestra Il Fondamento, together with the Conservatiores of Amsterdam, Ghent, and Brussels. Four Hills was a sort of opera, consisting of four sung episodes on stage, each involving a couple on a hill during wartime. These four settings were ancient Troy; Les Éparges in Verdun, 1916; La Loma de la Malagueñas, 1936; and the Temple Mount, 2015. The production featured the work of four young composers on a libretto by Jacob van Cauwenberghe. Gillis Sacré composed "Ilion," the Paris and Oenone scene. The other composers were Tihmen Van Tol, Nikos Ioakeim, and Nina Fukuoka.

The artistic director of Il Fondamento, Dr. Bruno Forment, approached me to license an image of Paris and Oenone from Age of Bronze. He felt it captured the sense of Four Hills and wanted to use it in advertising and on the program cover. I was happy to make the deal.

I didn't travel to Belgium to see the performance of Four Hills on February 21. But Dr. Forment informs me that it was an exciting success and that the image from Age of Bronze had a small influence on the production—it inspired the stage director to use headbands to identify characters.

Below is a video from the rehearsal period of Four Hills—Love in Wartime, featuring the Paris and Oenone image from Age of Bronze with color by John Dallaire.

vier heuvels rehearsal day #4
yesterday final rehearsals for vier heuvels. today premiere at the muziekgebouw ’t ij, 3 pm. thumbs up to all participants in this huge project!
Posted by Il Fondamento on Sunday, February 21, 2016

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