Together with the Orchestra De Ereprijs, the Dutch-Canadian soprano Elisabeth Hetherington takes on a new challenge. Commissioned by November Music, the Dutch-Cypriot composer Andys Skordis writes an electrifying musical ritual for soprano and large ensemble. His tattar…rattat is not only a playful palindrome but above all a clever take on Baroque music.

Skordis tackles the so-called air de cour, a popular 17th-century vocal Baroque style that particularly thrived at the court of Louis XIII. Skordis is specialized in ceremonial, ominous musical rituals, and composes operas, music theater, and many vocal works.

The title tattar…rattat comes from James Joyce and essentially means “knocking on the door.” It is a knock on the door to somehow wake us up. The threads of old music are found when you pull apart even the most avant-garde music styles. This is where we are: exploring how time, the past, and the present can merge into one entity. The work is part of a cycle of pieces that Andys Skordis specifically composes for Elisabeth Hetherington, Orchestra De Ereprijs, and viola da gamba specialist Evan Buttar.

tattar...rattat is a ritual, a process where we enter time and continuously move, reflecting the past in the present and vice versa. A ceremony in which Elisabeth Hetherington becomes the shaman, guiding us through the various stages of the ritual and leading us in this space where we hover between the past and the present, connecting with forgotten parts of our lives and creating new parts to experience.