HARDKOOR

a stream of self-consciousness, set to techno, trip hop and choral music

“I am not being burned out at home. I am at home burning out my doubts. And once my doubts are burned out, I will come out and I will play with you.”

After the disruptive PERMANENT DESTRUCTION triptych, Naomi Velissariou forms a new musical-theatrical formation, together with composer and producer Frank Wienk (Binkbeats), drummer Jens Bouttery  and the Nederlands Kamerkoor: HARDKOOR is a stand-up tragedy concert, a stream of self-consciousness, set to techno, trip hop and choral music. 

Prior to her fortieth birthday a single mom and artist withdraws from public life for a year. From the stillness of her burnout (which she defines as a crisis of the entire system, both physically, mentally and spiritually), she battles against the racing of time, against the societal images she’s trying to escape from by (not) conforming to them, and against her excessive self-awareness and self-criticism. Through a personal and exhausting endeavor of language, music and movement, she carves a path towards a life without shame, in which the endless pursuit for validation gives way to radical self-love and a not-so-boring-balance.

Under the motto “never waste a good crisis” and in the presence of the audience, she deals with the personal and societal blind spots that have brought her into her current state: her insecurity as a single mom, the pressure of social media, the disturbed relationship with her body, the cult of growth and self improvement, the bullshitization of our working lives, the commercialization of healthcare, the bankruptcy of the family as the cornerstone of society and the constant overstimulation of our brain as a result of a contemporary lifestyle.

In HARDKOOR Velissariou’s brutal language, a fluid combination of english and dutch aimed at obliterating suffocating images of human nature, is interwoven with the mind-fucking sound design of Joost Maaskant and Frank Wienk (Binkbeats). Velissariou previously formed the PERMANENT DESTRUCTION duo with Maaskant. Percussionist and producer Frank Wienk translates their sound into a composition that blurs the boundaries between acoustic and electronic music. This composition is being performed by drummer Jens Bouttery and the Nederlands Kamerkoor (NKK). For over 80 years the NKK ranks among the best choirs in the world and is known for its innovative approaches to the development and performance of top-level choral music. All this takes place in a setting that designer Boris Acket describes as a “brutalist techno temple”: a modular installation of light and sound technology, with a special role for the voices of the choir. Acket is a contemporary artist, composer and director, specialized in building multidisciplinary systems. The costume design consists of high fashion loungewear from the hands of MAISON the FAUX, a creative studio posing as a grand couture fashion house, whose work is also determined by its multidisciplinary approach.

The combination of the brutal honesty of the text, the uplifting rhythms of the sound design, the ecclesiastical grandeur of the choral singing, the raw minimalism of the installation and the high fashion of the costume design, make HARDKOOR into a harmonizing ritual of fulfillment in times of hysterical reality experience. 

HARDKOOR is  a coproduction between Theater Utrecht, Holland Festival and the Nederlands Kamerkoor. 

De snoeiharde taal van Naomi Velissariou die, in een vloeiende combinatie van Engels en Nederlands, verstikkende mensbeelden aan gort wil slaan, wordt in HARDKOOR versneden met het mind fucking sound design van Joost Maaskant en Frank Wienk (Binkbeats). Met Maaskant vormde Velissariou eerder het duo PERMANENT DESTRUCTION. Producer Frank Wienk vertaalt hun sound in HARDKOOR naar een compositie, die de grenzen tussen akoestische en elektronische muziek aftast. Die compositie wordt uitgevoerd door drummer Jens Bouttery en het Nederlands Kamerkoor (NKK). Het geheel vindt plaats in een decor, dat door ontwerper Boris Acket wordt omschreven als een “brutalistische techno-tempel": een modulaire installatie van licht- en geluidstechniek, met een bijzondere rol voor de stemmen van het koor. De kostuums bestaan uit high fashion loungewear, ontworpen door MAISON the FAUX.