Anna Mustonen & Marianna Henriksson: Maria-vesper

The music of Claudio Monteverdi meets new dance

In the photo: dancers Anna Kupari and Eleni Pierides, with HeBO musicians in the background. Photo: Kristiina Männikkö

In Maria-vesper, the work by choreographer Anna Mustonen and harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson, the music of Claudio Monteverdi meets new dance. In the performance, three dancers, six singers, and an orchestra share the stage. Soloist singers are the finest Finnish baroque specialists, and the orchestra consists of musicians of the internationally acclaimed Helsinki Baroque Orchestra.

Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 is an extensive collection of ecclesiastical music. The music of the Vespers consists of settings of ancient psalm melodies and radiating Renaissance polyphony, as well as of intimate songs that seek to move the listeners internally. Our staging creates a flux between sublime monumentality and personal everyday emotions.

The choreography of the performance is guided by the notion of singing and playing a musical instrument as a dance, and of music as a power that affects the listeners’ bodies directly. Maria-vesper invites the audience to become entranced by the melodies that vibrate, lull and flow through the bodies of everyone present.

Mustonen and Henriksson's collaboration on Early Baroque music and contemporary dance started with their previous work Di anima et di corpo, and continues with the performances of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610. Maria-vesper premiered in Helsinki April 2018 to critical acclaim.

Mustonen and Henriksson were awarded the 2018 Finnish State Prize for Performing Arts for their collaborative work. “Henriksson and Mustonen have succeeded in opening new visions in the dialogue between dance and music. Their works, Di anima et di corpo (2015) and especially Maria-vesper (2018), are significant artistic actions vis-a-vis the development of dance and music culture in Finland. The grand scale work brought together the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, singers, dancers and visual design in a way that can be considered as an artistic breakthrough.”

 

Credits

Music:
Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Vespro della Beata Vergine

Domine ad adiuvandum
Dixit Dominus
Nigra sum
Laudate pueri
Pulchra es
Laetatus sum
Duo Seraphim
Nisi Dominus
Audi Coelum
Sonata sopra Sancta Maria
Ave maris stella: Hymnus
Magnificat

Choreography: Anna Mustonen
Musical direction, harpsichord and organ: Marianna Henriksson

Performers:
Hanna Ahti, Anna Kupari, Eleni Pierides
Tuuli Lindeberg, Sirkku Rintamäki; soprano
Teppo Lampela; alto
Taavi Oramo, Juho Punkeri; tenor
Jussi Lehtipuu; bass
Hannu Vasara, Anne Pekkala; violin
Krishna Nagaraja; viola
Louna Hosia; cello
Anna Rinta-Rahko; violone
Andrea Inghisciano; cornett
Gawain Glenton; cornett, recorder
Esa Fagerholm, Vesa Lehtinen; trombone
Jani Sunnarborg; dulcian
Eero Palviainen; theorbo

Costume design: Piia Rinne
Spatial and lighting design: Heikki Paasonen
Dramaturgy: Masi Tiitta
Producer: Riikka Thitz
Assistant for costume designer, dressmaking: Nina Ukkonen
Assistant for spatial and lighting designer: Kaisa Rajahalme
Builders: Kaba Assefa, Irene Lehtonen, Joakim Raatikainen, Salla Salin
Teaser: Alisa Javits
Video: Mikael Kanerva

Production: Zodiak - Center for new dance, Helsinki Baroque Orchestra, Anna Mustonen & Marianna Henriksson
Supported by: Arts Promotions Centre Finland, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Regional Dance Centre of Ostrobothnia
In collaboration with: Villisilkki

Photos: Kristiina Männikkö

 
« The collaboration of choreographer Anna Mustonen and harpsichordist Marianna Henriksson continues in a grand style. — Monteverdi’s Vespers like you’ve never seen it before! The border between singers and dancers is blurred and the result is fascinating. — I look forward to more Mustonen-Henriksson projects. »
— Tove Djupsjöbacka, HBL
« Maria-vesper is one of the most fascinating encounters of music and dance for a long time. Based on the music by Claudio Monteverdi, the performance spreads out in the high space of Pannuhalli and becomes a collective experience reaching for sensual desire and sacredness. — More of this!  »
— Harri Kuusisaari, Rondo Classic
« One cannot distinguish from the ecstatic group who is a singer and who is a dancer — The performance was so successful that the audience yelled and stamped their feet during the final applause. The divine and the ordinary - there lies the whole life. — »
— Jussi Tossavainen, Helsingin Sanomat

Performances