New Polyphonies

In “newpolyphonies” four singers of HYOID join forces with 15 Berlin-based performers in a curious High Mass about little differences with big impact.

Manyfold, meditative, monstrous, machinic, messianic, mimetic, mesmerising, minuscule, mighty, methodical, momentary, mystical.

Inspired by insects, climate marches and airplane traffic coming to a halt, the leitmotif in this concert-performance is not the loud collective chant, but the experience that each individual – like a link in a chain – can set a vortex of sounds in motion.
“newpolyphonies” addresses the question of the democratisation of polyphonic art and its social implications. Developed with the Belgian vocal ensemble HYOID, the composition was created in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when the voice is suspect. Integrating the mouth mask as a performative instrument, “newpolyphonies” dialogues with the dystopian era through a play on vocal proximity and distance, and through the breaking down of barriers between stage and audience. Oscillating between lethargy and healing, “newpolyphonies” is an abstract allegory of a society that loses itself to find itself again.
“newpolyphonies” (2021) is a part of Myriam Van Imschoot’s trilogy, “What nature says?” (2015) and her upcoming work “Nocturnes pour une société” (2023).

Myriam Van Imschoot and Hyoid Voices
newpolyphonies (2021)
Vocal performance
Orouba Knifati, Caitlín Fisher, Lara Alarcón, Marcio Zygmunt De Oliveira Mieczkowski, Samar Joukhadar, Eva Maria Schoen, Nazli Korkmaz, Maria Velez, Teodoro Posada, Salma Salem, Anissa Rouas, Austin Wilson, Martin Buntz, Bettina Wagner, Arnaud Bourgoin, Randa Gawish, Zen Jefferson, Eatedal Akid, Ute Waldhausen

Myriam Van Imschoot concept, composition, direction
HYOID voices co-creation and performance
Fabienne Seveillac, Andreas Halling, Els Mondelaers, Gunther Vandeven

Fabrice Moinet concept, sound design of electronics
Wannes Gonissen sound engineer
Matthieu Virot electronics assistant
Lukas Van Haesbroeck lighting design
Nadine Van Imschoot, Filip Eyckmans advice layout, costume design

Hiros producer
La Muse en Circuit delegated producer
Muziekcentrum De Bijloke, Kunstenwerkplaats, Kunstencentrum BUDA (Kortrijk) co-production
Sophia Bauer internship

Thanks to: Emmanuel Desmyter, Jean-Manuel Candenot, all participants who joined the rehearsals, Marcus Bergner, Björn Schmelzer’s seminars, Ismail Fayed and the lab of radical polyphony with the support of Sarma, Myriam Pruvot, the performers of "What Nature Says", Bahae Eddin Rouas