SUTRA
“From far behind Szymon Brzóska’s music sounds melodious, sweet and rhythmically accentuated, at times reserved and almost cool. It comes as no surprise that he has also composed film music – a good soundtrack adapts itself to the plot so that the viewer senses rather than hears it. In some ways Brzóska is the perfect composer for modern dance.”
- Mike Dixon, Ballettanz
“Szymon Brzóska’s score for percussion and strings wisely doesn’t try to compete with the monks’ inner rhythms; rather it seeks to surround them with soothing, even meditative sounds.”
- Debra Crane, The Times
“The melancholic music of Polish composer Szymon Brzóska, shakes Sutra to its core.”
- Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde
My very first collaboration with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui brought me on a unforgettable journey to the heart of China, in the Shaolin Temple of Henan, where we have joined the artist Antony Gormley and the Shaolin monks to create Sutra. The music draws partly its inspiration from the ambience of the temple, introducing echoes of traditional Chinese music, but mostly remaining within my aesthetic language.
My intention was to provide a musical background that would support the monks’ dynamics and allow the flow and exchange of their multiple energies, while keeping a balance between the energy of martial arts and stillness - the spiritual and meditative aspect of the piece. During the world-wide tour of Sutra I worked both as composer and pianist, together with four talented musicians - Olga Wojciechowska (1st violin), Alies Sluiter (2nd violin), Laura Anstee (cello) and Coordt Linke (percussion).
Direction & Choreography: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Music: Szymon Brzóska
Visual Creation and Design: Antony Gormley
Lightning Consultant: Adam Carree
Sadler’s Wells London, 2008