Routes
She can't do it anymore: climb the barricades, enter politics or invest in renewable energy. Magda is 100 years old and has stopped living. She has one last cigarette and one last drink, but she still wants to say something. If stories are there to pass on life's lessons, what story is needed now? What can't go with her to the grave? Magda makes one last attempt to stimulate our imagination. Accompanied by the music of composer and climate activist Ryuichi Sakamoto, she guides her audience through the myriad small steps required to build a new future together, all the while feeling life slipping away.
The text draws inspiration from death scenes in literature, ranging from Couperus's Eline Vere to Werner Schwab's Grollfeuer, as well as from Sakamoto's own musical death scene and the thoughts of philosopher Chris Julien in his 'Heading for Extinction' talk. In search of the small steps we can take ourselves, as well as the role of the artist in the climate crisis, Cello Octet and Sophie van Winden have joined forces to create a performance that will touch us in new ways and inspire us to take action while there is still time.
For Ryuichi Sakamoto, his music was linked to the fight for a better world. He was the initiator of a major reforestation project, among other things, and an anti-nuclear activist. In 2022, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Confronted with his own mortality, he reflected at the piano on the legacy he would leave behind. These reflections during his chemotherapy sessions resulted in the album '12', which can be interpreted as his musical death scene. He also recorded the final concert he performed before his death, which was released as the album Opus. The composer passed away in 2023.
We will play music from 12 and Opus in the show (arranged for cello octet), as well as other pieces such as Thousand Knives and Reversing.