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Australian composer Liza Lim based this work for improviser, baritone and sixteen musicians on the Persian texts of the 14th century Sufi poet and mystic Hafez. In Hafez’ poems the worldly and the mystical are subtly intertwined, leading to a form of transcendence. A metaphor often used in this search for illumination is the inn, as a place where the heart, represented as a chalice, is filled with wine and becomes one with God. In Tongue of the Invisible the concert hall fills this role and becomes a place where musical composition and improvisation lead the listener to a higher plane.

  • © Klaus Rudolph

  • © Klaus Rudolph

  • © Klaus Rudolph

credits

music Liza Lim text Jonathan Holmes conductor André de Ridder piano Uri Caine bariton Omar Ebrahim performance musikFabrik commissioned by musikFabrik, Holland Festival