Hardkoor

“I am not being burned out at home. I am at home burning out my doubts. And once my doubts are burned out, I will come out and I will play with you.”

After the disruptive PERMANENT DESTRUCTION triptych, Naomi Velissariou forms a new musical-theatrical formation, together with composer and producer Frank Wienk (Binkbeats), drummer Jens Bouttery and het Nederlands Kamerkoor (The Netherlands Chamber Choir): HARDKOOR is a stand-up tragedy concert, a stream of self-consciousness, set to techno, trip hop and choral music.

Prior to her fortieth birthday, a single mom and artist withdraws from public life for a year. From the stillness of her burnout (which she defines as a crisis of the entire system, both physically, mentally and spiritually) she contends with the relentless passage of time, against the societal images she’s trying to escape from by (not) conforming to them, and against her excessive self-awareness and self-criticism. Through a personal and exhausting endeavor of language, music and movement, she carves a path towards a life without shame, in which the endless pursuit for validation gives way to radical self-love and a not-so-boring-balance.

Under the motto “never waste a good crisis” and in the presence of the audience, she deals with the personal and societal blind spots that have brought her into her current state: her insecurity as a single mom, the pressure of social media, the disturbed relationship with her body, the cult of growth and self-improvement, the “bullshitization” of our working lives, the commercialization of healthcare, the bankruptcy of the family as the cornerstone of society and the constant overstimulation of our brain as a result of a contemporary lifestyle.
-|-
In HARDKOOR, Velissariou’s brutal language, a fluid combination of English and Dutch, aims at obliterating suffocating images of human nature which is interwoven with the mind-fucking sound design of Joost Maaskant and Frank Wienk (Binkbeats). With Maaskant, Velissariou previously formed a duo as called PERMANENT DESTRUCTION. Percussionist and producer Frank Wienk translates their sound into a composition that blurs the boundaries between acoustic and electronic music. This composition is being performed by drummer Jens Bouttery and het Nederlands Kamerkoor (NKK). For over 80 years, the NKK has ranked among the best choirs in the world and is known for its innovative approaches to the development and performance of top-level choral music. All this takes place in a setting that designer Boris Acket describes as a “brutalist techno temple”: a modular installation of light and sound technology, with a special role for the choir's voices. Acket is a contemporary artist, composer and director, specialized in building multidisciplinary systems. The costume design consists of high fashion loungewear from the hands of MAISON the FAUX, a creative studio posing as a grand couture fashion house, whose work is also determined by its multidisciplinary approach.

The combination of the brutal honesty of the text, the uplifting rhythms of the sound design, the ecclesiastical grandeur of the choral singing, the raw minimalism of the installation and costume design that's high fashion, make HARDKOOR into a harmonizing ritual of fulfillment admidst the chaos of contemporary reality.

HARDKOOR is een productie van Theater Utrecht, met co-producenten Holland Festival en het Nederlands Kamerkoor, i.s.m. Nicole Beutler Projects.
Naar een initiatief van het Nederlands Kamerkoor.

concept, text, directing and performance Naomi Velissariou
musical composition Joost Maaskant en Frank Wienk
musical direction Frank Wienk
drums, percussie en live electronics Jens Bouttery
vocalshet Nederlands Kamerkoor (Bethany Shepherd, Julie Hasfjord, Elsbeth Gerritsen, Emma Nelson, Ambro Golachowski, Jobbe Hoebink, Gilad Nezer en Sebastiaan Ammerlaan)
repetitor Béni Csillag
scenografie en lichtontwerp Boris Acket
costume design MAISON the FAUX
technical sound system design Sander van der Werff
movement coach and choreography choir Nicole Beutler
outside eye Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe
indispensibleaid Casper Vandeputte
assistant director Lindsy Dias
-|-
“Special thanks to Anne Breure for going on this adventure with me, for holding my hand at the right moments and also letting it go, thanks to Lucien Rentmeester for our loving way of breaking up and for being the most devoted father to our son, thanks to Thomas Dudkiewicz for supporting this single mom for life, thanks to Luca Meisters for teaching me what friendship means, to Cristian Boscheri for making me laugh every day of my burnout, thanks to my parents for all the hours they spent babysitting Fransje and thanks to Fransje for the naturalness with which he calls me "mom”.”

The lyrics of I am a parent are based on and inspired by A life's work from Rachel Cusk.