Nova Graafhuis on ‘Responding to War ’ by the Kronos Quartet
During Cultura Nova, our bloggers experience the festival first-hand. Not as critics, but as visitors trying to capture what a performance or concert evokes.
Nova Graafhuis attended the Kronos Quartet’s performance at Theater Heerlen with her family. It was an evening filled with music, images and stories about war, injustice and remembrance.
Read about her experience below.
“It wasn’t just music. You really experienced something.”
On 31 August, I went to see the Kronos Quartet in Heerlen with my family. It was brilliant that they came to perform here, because the group has been around for ages and actually consists of constantly changing musicians, but they always sound the same.
It was really strange and special at the same time. They mainly played music about war, injustice and heavy topics. You could tell straight away that it wasn’t just music, but that the musicians really wanted to tell a story. For example, about a shooting in America in the 1970s, or about a bomb attack in Alabama in which four girls were killed. It sounded as if the instruments themselves were screaming, but in a beautiful way.
There was also a piece where they used audio recordings of survivors of the Armenian genocide. You could hear the voices of people who’d lived through it. Their story gave me a queasy feeling in my stomach.
The best bit was how they made the visuals and the music work together. It felt as if you were in a film, but one in which you were actually taking part. It wasn’t just lovely to listen to, but also to watch. It was as if, through their music and images, they knew exactly how to convey that one specific feeling they wanted to convey.
At the end, everyone sat in silence for a moment. Not because it was boring, but because it was simply too much to take in straight away. It was an evening you don’t just go to for the music, but where you really experience something. And that is exactly why the Kronos Quartet is so special.
Nova Graafhuis
About Nova Graafhuis
Hi! My name is Nova and I’m 17 years old. I’m from Heerlen and this year I’ll be volunteering at Cultura Nova for the third time. I’m really looking forward to the opening on 28 August, when this fantastic theatre festival can begin again.
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