Uncanny is the right word to describe Barber’s Solitary Hotel. A lonely, restless woman awaits something in a jarring soundscape. The wild, tango-like interventions of the violin don’t make it any cozier. Equally, Saint-Saëns’ innocent-sounding Violons dans le Soir offers an unsettling dialogue between Noa Wildschut’s bewitched violin and the voice of Laetitia Gerards. Will it ever be okay? Even in Piazzolla’s Yo soy María, it seems like it won’t end well for the perky prostitute…

Laetitia Gerards, soprano
Noa Wildschut, violin
Thomas Beijer, piano

Program
Barber: Solitary Hotel
Saint-Saëns: Violons dans le soir
Piazzolla: Yo soy María