‘Divided Nations’. Through this project, they aim to highlight the importance of fostering connection, in these divided times. Utilising a staircase, the musicians will be dispersed across the space, standing at varying levels (some may be on the ground floor, some on the staircase, and some on the upper floor). This creates an experience, in that if you are standing below the musicians, you hear one connected sound, but as you walk closer to the individual musicians, they become amplified, almost serving as a lone entity. After releasing a call for proposals, they received nearly 100 submissions from all across the globe. 5 composers have been selected, with many incorporating elements of non-Western classical music. The themes of the composers include mutual tolerance, alienation in a digital age, the struggles of keeping Kalymak culture alive, a sonic representation of different ethnic groups living in Lebanon, using Middle Eastern Maqam Music, and lived experience of how dictatorships atomize communities to take power.
