Når nogen synger direkte ind i dit øre midt om natten

Marie Koldkjær Højlund, Den Sorte Skole m.fl.: »Natten – en teaterkoncert«

Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek. © Kåre Viemose

Midt i Carl Nielsens »Solen er så rød mor« rammer tusmørket salen. Så følger højskolesange og vuggeviser, kørt gennem et elektronisk filter og gerne i mol. Marie Højlund og Den Sorte Skoles bearbejdninger af sange om natten udspiller sig i et elegant twilight/chiaroscuro-univers a la Floria Sigismondis Christina Aguelira-video »Fighter« eller The Fifth Element. Her er vemodets røst. Sunget solo eller i kor, sakralt, forvrænget, spøgelsesagtigt og på en baggrund af noise. Som afdøde stemmer, der er kommet tilbage for at sidde ved sengen og hjælpe den endnu vågne videre. Musik har altid assisteret i overgangsriter og endda fungeret som vidundermiddel til søvnløse grever.

Dramaturgien i Natten er inspireret af søvnstadier: Let søvn, REM, drøm, mareridt, opvågning – alt er flydende, cyklisk som døgnet, og det vibrerende soundscape efterligner nattens lov, hvor fornuften er itu og giver plads til erotisk gnubbende performere på en hestekarusel, K-pop-energi, mega goth og en uskyldig rytmeboks. 30 stykker musik, akkurat som i Goldberg Variationerne, er ret mange. Ofte er de dog ordnet i medleyer, og denne teaterkoncert er mere en stemningsrapport fra et ulogisk rum, natten, et privat sted, som vi alle genoplever hver dag, men som det er svært at rapportere fra. Derfor har vi alle dage poetiseret det manglende lys. Den ældste sang er i øvrigt fra 1642.

Når Natten er bedst, favnes og italesættes mørkets hemmelige rum med en elektrisk nerve og fornemmelsen af, at nogen synger direkte ind i dit øre. Varme synths ledsager disse sange om somre uden sol, ikke for mange eksperimenter men med masser af melodi – og i momenter er det som at lytte til natsværmere. I det gamle teaterrum bliver vi bevidste om at huske at lytte til verden, eller når nogen synger for os, også i halvslumrende tilstand.

playlist

25.02

My name is Louise Beck – would you like to see my playlist?

»I listen to music at all hours of the day when I’m at home – surrounded by family – or when I’m working and travelling. My playlist changes every day. It reflects my state of mind here and now, and the ideas, memories, joys and sorrows that currently occupy me. The last piece, Salve Regina, was only added late this evening, after I experienced Poulenc’s magnificent opera Dialogues des Carmélites at the Royal Danish Opera.«

Louise Beck is a scenographer, stage director and artistic director of OPE-N – and from the 2027 season, artistic director of Copenhagen Opera Festival. For nearly three decades, she has developed opera as a living and contemporary art form at the intersection of the established opera field and the independent music-theatre scene. She has created a number of critically acclaimed and award-nominated works, including Den Sidste Olie and LOL – Laughing Out Lonely, and, together with Niels Rønsholdt, stands behind the opera trilogy Den Stærkes Ret – Den Svages Pligt, whose second part will be presented at the University Library of Copenhagen during the 2026 festival.

playlist

24.02

My name is Nilza Costa – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music is my daily nourishment, helping me become a better person. It's a formula of emotions, full of energy, that gives me the courage to always have hope.«

Nilza Costa is a Brazilian singer and songwriter from Salvador de Bahia and now living in Ferrara, Italy, whose heart beats with the ancestral rhythms of Africa, rhythms she channels through her voice into a singular and deeply original artistic language. Her new album Cantigas – released in February 2026 on Brutture Moderne Records – is inspired by and dedicated to the Cantigas, or Orin, the sacred songs passed down through African languages, in this album Yoruba, Kimbundu and also Brazilian Portuguese. Nilza Costa’s voice has long given life to the revolution of a people who, through music and spirituality, have reclaimed their path toward emancipation. Her songs tell the stories of men and women torn from their homeland — narratives filled with both melancholy and hope.

Throughout her career, Nilza has collaborated with renowned artists such as Roy Paci, Etnia Supersantos, and Senegalese musician Elhadj Demba S. Gueye. With her current band, she has performed on numerous international stages (Austria, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Belgium, Slovenia, and more) and has appeared at major festivals across Italy.

news

24.02

From Ice Opera to International Leadership

Louise Beck

When Louise Beck presented her first opera at Copenhagen Opera Festival in 2022, the audience was asked to bring ski wear and thermal suits. Den Sidste Olie (The Last Oil), about the colonisation of Greenland and the exploitation of nature, unfolded on the ice at Østerbro Skøjtehal. It marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration on newly written works that expand the frames and spaces of opera. Now that collaboration enters a new phase: from 1 September, Louise Beck will become the festival’s new artistic director.

playlist

22.02

Mit navn er Iris Gold – vil du se min playliste?

»Music for me is peace.«

Iris Gold is a Danish singer. She was born in London but raised in Christiania. She made her recording debut in 2015 with the single »Goldmine« and has since released a number of singles. Her debut album Planet Cool was released in 2019. She has just released the album Sugar on My Lips.

playlist

21.02

My name Astrid Kruse Jensen – would you like to see my playlist?

»Resonance – music is for me an indispensable inspiring resonance. In music, the big emotions fall into place, and the small ones bubble up. My grandfather introduced me to opera as a child – so loudly that my heart jumped in my ears, and I fell head over heels and deeply in love with these grand and dramatic compositions. Through it, I was introduced to the big emotions in the world – in music there was room for them in a way that I had not experienced anywhere else before.«

Astrid Kruse Jensen (b. 1975) is a Danish visual artist living in Copenhagen. Throughout her artistic career, she has been preoccupied with photography and its relationship to memory. With her poetic shifts of reality, she explores the borderland between the apparent and the hidden, between the real and the imaginary, between past and present. She has exhibited widely both in Denmark and internationally, with exhibitions in galleries and museums – from solo to group exhibitions in Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, China, Korea, Ghana, Canada, the USA and the UK. In Denmark, her works have been exhibited at, among others, the Brundlund Castle Art Museum, Esbjerg Art Museum, Heerup Museum, Rønnebæksholm, Brandts, Aros, Kunsten, Skagen Museum, Willumsen Museum, Sorø Art Museum, Odsherred Art Museum and Johannes Larsen Museum. Astrid Kruse Jensen is represented by Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen and Wetterling Gallery in Stockholm & Gothenburg.