Cantus (Bind III) is a non-verbal choir-piece commissioned by the Scenatet and composed by the ensemble’s recurring collaborator, Jeppe Ernst. The piece is a testament to the fruitfulness of the collaboration between Scenatet and Ernst, as well as an example of their joint effort to challenge preconceived notions of what classical music and drama is and can be.

In a study of social dynamics and intersubjective relationships, ten musicians staged as a choir perform a non-verbal script consisting of an explosion of gestures, touches and strokes. An opera of sorts, Cantus is an inquiry into the ineffability of the loneliness inherent to human existence. How intimate, how close can we be to someone, the piece seems to ask, while still feeling radically disparate and alienated from them??

Cantus proposes radical stylistic devices that suggest a brand-new approach to opera and performance. Essential for both Scenatet and Ernst is the attempt to preserve the existential and emotional depth that has always been at the core of an art form such as opera while simultaneously daring to challenge its deep-seated stylistic conventions. Cantus is yet another example of this endeavor.