A Seedy Hotel Room Becomes the Stage For Lives, Traumas, and Music

Emma O’Halloran, Irish National Opera: »Trade« / »Mary Motorhead«

Two chamber operas by Irish composer Emma O’Halloran, both adapted from plays by her uncle, Mark O’Halloran. The first, Trade, is utterly compelling and deeply moving: the story of two men meeting for sex in a grubby hotel room, whose intertwining lives are burdened by trauma and love. The composer writes of the »beautiful economy« in her uncle’s language and the same could be said of her music, which charges the text with more and more tension and urgency without cramping it – but just as often barely registers at all, letting theatre and storytelling rule. The vocal acting is outstanding.

The stylistic resourcefulness of Trade, in which the two characters are so vividly drawn, returns in the monologue Mary Motorhead but with less success. Here, musical sampling can get in the way of our view of the prisoner, who tells of her troubled life before she split her husband’s head open with a knife. Taken with Trade, though, it only emphasizes O’Halloran’s brilliance with theatre and deft musical hand. Would it be too much to hope for one or two truly theatrical, storytelling operas like these in the avant-garde strand of Copenhagen Opera Festival?

playlist

20.10

My name is Henrik Marstal – would you like to see my playlist?

»Who ever said that music is ‘just’ music? To me, it is anything but that: an urge to understand and explain it all. A piece of jewelry I wear every single day. A joy that can, at times, run deep. An ever-changing imprint of millions of stitches in my heart. A longing to disappear.«

Henrik Marstal is a musician, author, and music researcher. He holds a PhD in musicology, is a senior lecturer at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory, and frequently appears in the media as an expert source on music. His areas of interest include contemporary music, such as electronic music. This winter, he will release both a new album with the pop group ibens and a book about Else Marie Pade, published by the British publishing house Bloomsbury.

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14.10

My name is Krzysztof Pietraszewski – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music helps me feel, process and regulate my emotions, giving them an outlet when I need release and bringing me calm when I need balance – it’s sort of my outsourced nervous system.«

Krzysztof Pietraszewski is a music journalist, editor and curator based in Kraków, Poland. Since 2016, he has served as artistic director of Sacrum Profanum, a festival dedicated to new and experimental music. He hosts Muzykoteka and the RKK Live concert rebroadcast series on Radio Kraków Kultura. He also develops listening sessions with discussions, inviting audiences to discover unfamiliar music, exchange impressions and experience listening as a shared activity. His work includes executive-producing recordings for the Sacrum Profanum Archives series. Originally from Silesia, he has made Kraków his home, sharing music through concerts, radio broadcasts, writing and, more recently, experimental DJ sets.

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14.10

My name is Lone Hørslev – would you like to see my playlist?

»For me, music is at its best when it appeals to both the head and the heart. I love music that plays with language and understands how words create images, while also possessing its own unique sonic quality and mood. It’s an added bonus if the music energizes me during a run, makes me dance in the kitchen, or makes me laugh. Or cry. Music can be like a chocolate-coated marshmallow treat with a surprise inside.«

Lone Hørslev is an author of poetry, novels, and song lyrics, as well as the TV series Den gode stemning. Together with Mads Mouritz, she forms one half of the Mouritz/Hørslev Project, and she recently wrote lyrics for the musical theatre production STOLT in collaboration with Katrine Muff. The songs can be found on the album Jeg ønsker mig.

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14.10

My name is Raphael Loher – would you like to see my playlist?

»I think music is just the way I perceive and process the world.«

Raphael Loher is a pianist and composer based in Lucerne, Switzerland who combines elements of experimental electronic music, ambient, and minimalist composition. His distinct, crystalline work explores playful reduction and rhythmic abstraction, aiming to create singular resonances and aesthetic connections. His meditative style of piano playing allows shimmering rhizomatic structures to emerge, giving rise to tense narrative arcs. Loher expands his sound spectrum by preparing the piano, using effect pedals, and working with a tape recorder.

Loher’s new album Figuren (Präsens Editionen) is an album shaped by intuition, experimentation, and a deliberate distance from his primary instrument — the piano. Reworking intimate concert recordings made during a residency, Loher deconstructed selected melodies, tones, and resonances into new forms, transforming them further through tape manipulation.

A Seedy Hotel Room Becomes the Stage For Lives, Traumas, and Music

Winners of the 2026 Nordic Council Music Prize announced

My name is Henrik Marstal – would you like to see my playlist?

My name is Krzysztof Pietraszewski – would you like to see my playlist?

My name is Lone Hørslev – would you like to see my playlist?

My name is Raphael Loher – would you like to see my playlist?