The Australian composer Liza Lim has created a number of projects exploring concepts of spirituality in connection with female energy and eroticism. Along with Sex Magic, a large work for for contrabass flute, live electronics and an installation of kinetic instruments, written for Claire Chase, there is the Annunciation Triptych for orchestra, which is being given its world premiere at the Achtbrücken Festival in Cologne, with soprano Emily Hindrichs and the WDR Sinfonieorchester conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. Jointly commissioned by BBC Radio 3, musica viva of Bavarian Radio and West German Radio (WDR), this composition represents a major addition to Liza Lim’s oeuvre. 

Annunciation Triptych (2019-2022)

I. Sappho/ Bioluminescence
II. Mary/ Transcendence after Trauma
III. Fatimah/ Flowers of Jubilation

About Annunciation Triptych

Sappho, Mary and Fatimah are invoked as icons of women’s spirituality and the three works explore themes of revelation and ritual as the connecting tissue between very different cultural worlds. Sappho’s world of erotic trance and hallucination, Mary’s Visitation by the Angel and Passion Play, Fatimah’s Wedding and Lamentation – these stories are also commentaries on ecological, spiritual and transcultural themes in our times.

The movements can be played as a stand-alone work, a dyad (30 minutes) or as the full cycle (45 minutes).

Performances

29.04.2022 (WP)
WDR Sinfonieorchester, Cristian Măcelaru (cond.), Emily Hindrichs (soprano), Kölner Philharmonie (Annunciation Triptych)

01.05.2022 (NP)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (cond.), Grand Hall, Tectonics Festival, Glasgow (Sappho/ Bioluminescence)

10-2022
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Johannes Kalitzke (cond.), musica viva, Munich (Mary/ Transcendence after Trauma)

Read Liza Lim's blog article on Annunciation Triptych