On 19 and 20 August 2023, Børnekulturhus Ama'r was hosting a Danish version of the international BIG BANG festival for the third year in a row. Zonzo Compagnie, together with the Danish Composers' Society and Børnekulturhus Ama'r, seized the opportunity to gather music professionals to a joint conversation about creating music drama works for children of all ages on Monday 21 August 2023.
In the BIG BANG context, music theatre can take many forms. However, what all performances have in common is that music is the starting point for an interaction with choreography, scenography, movement, lighting, structures, costumes and sound design. The spoken narrative takes up little or no space, and with language eliminated, the performances can travel across the network of European venues, opera houses and cultural centres that make up the joint European BIG BANG project.
The inspiration day presented different approaches to creating new musical drama for children, insights into specific performances and the creations as experienced by the artists on stage, as well as ample opportunity for dialogue and networking.
Programme
10.30 - 11.00: Arrival and coffee
11.00 - 11.15: Welcome, introduction to BIG BANG and Børnekulturhus Ama'r
11.15 - 12.30: Creating for children - presentation and Q&A with Wouter Van Looy and Christina Lindgren
12.30 - 13.00: Light lunch
13.00 - 14.15: BIG BANG - new adventurous music project formats for young audiences
After lunch, Wouter Van Looy and three artists from different musical and cultural backgrounds, all of whom have new projects at this year's BIG BANG_festival, presented a number of examples of projects aimed at young audiences:
- Musician, composer and instrument maker Jochem Baelus
- Singer and songwriter Junior Akweti
- Percussionist Aya Suzuki
Jochem Bealus from Belgium performed at BIG BANG with Pakman, a theatrical/musical duet between a musician and a juggler. For this year's festival, he has created the installation STEEN and performs in the show SP!N
Junior Akwety is from Congo and plays both concerts and performances for children and adults. He is part of the performance SP!N at this year's BIG BANG festival.
Aya Suzuki, originally from Japan but now living in Belgium, performs at BIG BANG 2023 with the musical performance Metal Works.
14.15 - 14.30: Round-up and info about new production opportunities at Børnekulturhus Ama'r. Moderator: Sine Tofte Hannibal, General Manager Danish Composers' Society