Graindelavoix, Jan Michiels, Björn Schmelzer

The foundation of this concert is the Messe de Notre Dame – a complete Mass setting written by Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th century. 

Starting from within it, Epitaphs of Afterwardsness unfolds into an extended reflection on transitoriness – of the artworks themselves, of those who perform, listen to, and interpret them, and more. 

To keep the focus on the encounter with this ‘hindsight’ the ensemble does not attempt to restore the mass to some ‘original’ state but presents it in a radically contemporary framework. Inevitably, all the pieces present themselves as epitaphs for an eternal demise.

Antwerp-based Graindelavoix, founded and directed by Björn Schmelzer, is famous for its unorthodox performances of early music that time and again take on stubborn clichés and common-sense beliefs. Graindelavoix not only performs the music, it tries to reinvent it. In the same way that it seeks out the kernel in the grainy voice (‘le grain dans la voix’), it continually looks for the pebble in the shoe of interpretation, with as its goal not so much scholarly truth as artistic truthfulness.

Concept and dramaturgy: Björn Schmelzer & Jan Michiels