Interludium is a musical performance without sound. Created in collaboration with composer Jeppe Ernst, the performance is a striking example of this composer’s deeply original dogma of removing the most fundamental constituents of music – the sound – in order to question the hegemony of the ear and allow for the other four senses to come into play.

When Scenatet premiered the performance at SPOR Festival 2020, a review from kunsten.dk described it as “a welcome reminder of why we need art and music, not least the kind that doesn’t give us what we expect or ruffles our feathers, but that surprises and awakens us”. The aim of the performance is exactly that. As a study of basic social power relations, Interludium examines the false dichotomy between the uniform and the diverse as well as between the active performer and the passive observer. The very title, Interludium, is indicative of the way in which the performance carves a space in between each side of these binaries.

What unites and separates human beings as archetypes and individuals? How do we change the spaces we find ourselves in? Centered around six bodies moving slowly and gracefully across an open space, the performance becomes as a ceremonial interlude, a parenthesis in time and a break from the norm, wherein in an answer to these difficult questions may arise.

The work was premiered at SPOR festival September 2020 and has subsequently been performed at CPH STAGE 2021 and Passage festival 2023.

Duration 35 min, three performances in a row is recommended.

Interludium is commissioned and produced by Scenatet.

“For me, [Scenatet’s premiere of] Interludium was a welcome reminder of why we need art and music, not least the kind that doesn’t give us what we expect or ruffle our feathers, but that surprises and awakens us [ ..] 
Jeppe Ernst is perhaps one of the most hyped composers […]. And with good reason. In recent years, he has distinguished himself by working with what can be called creative reduction. In several cases he has operated with a dogma of removing the supporting pillar of music: namely the sound. In this way, he has created compositions that are aimed at other senses and at the social space that arises between the work and the recipient, and the audience. In this way, he leaves his audience with fundamental questions about what was otherwise taken for granted – that a concert should primarily be heard, for example.”

The Danish Arts Foundation, KODA Culture, Augustinus Fonden and Den Obelske Familiefond.