Koyaanisquatsi to open the festival

‘This is a major project which we have worked hard to bring off. We are very pleased to have succeeded,’ says festival director Per Boye Hansen.

Koyaanisqatsi (1982) is said to be the most influential and radical combination of sound and image since Disney’s Fantasia. This ground-breaking film was created by the director Geoffrey Reggio and the composer Philip Glass.

Philip Glass (72 years old in 2009) is possibly the best-known classical composer of recent decades. His fame is to a great extent due to his film music. He received Oscar nominations for the films Kundun, The Hours and Notes on a Scandal, and has collaborated with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg and from Woody Allen to David Bowie.Following his extremely successful live performances of the music to this rich film collage, Philip Glass recently reworked the music for orchestra, and last summer he gave the world premiere of the orchestral version at the legendary Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In Bergen he will be performing with his own ensemble alongside the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

The Hopi Indian word koyaanisqatsi means ‘a life out of balance’. The film is a visual journey documenting American cities and landscapes in which consumption, war and technology stand in bleak contrast with grandiose natural scenery. At the same time the film reveals beauty in completely unexpected places. Koyaanisqatsi poses the questions, ‘What have we done to the world, and what have we done to ourselves?’

In addition to the opening performance on 26 May, there will be a further performance on 27 May, which will be preceded by a dialogue with Philip Glass.