Hide to Show // Michael Beil / Nadar Ensemble

MaerzMusik 2023

Online is the new alone: In “Hide to Show”, composer Michael Beil questions and highlights the astonishing world of the internet. Memes, covers, parodies and deep fakes. The listeners – who are invariably also spectators – find themselves in a labyrinth of new perspectives.

It has been over ten years since Nadar Ensemble and composer Michael Beil first met in sun-splashed Tel Aviv. Now they are creating a scenic composition for the third time. In “Hide to Show”, Beil questions and highlights the mesmerizing world of the internet. By confronting the live musicians with audio and video recordings, he dissects their actions on stage into image and sound. These disconnected elements become building blocks, which the composer can rearrange, glue together and stack on top of each other at will. The listeners – who are invariably also spectators – thus find themselves in a labyrinth of new perspectives. Wonder, confusion, and alienation reign supreme on a virtuoso, often catchy soundtrack of live music and electronics.
The musicians hide behind their costumes, curtains that go up and down, and recordings of themselves, so that the real person remains invisible after all. A parallel with social media is quickly made. Hidden behind your profile picture or avatar, you can appear in the virtual world as an individual without ever really showing yourself. This is also the case in “Hide to Show”: while the musicians are alone in their dressing rooms, the audience oversees their interconnectedness, neatly in sync. In real life, everything is more complicated and everyone is imperfect.

Michael Beil concept, composition, video, staging
WARPED TYPE(Andreas Huck, Roland Nebe) live visuals, stage design
Barbara Galli-Jescheck choreographic advisor
Charlotte Triebus lyrics

Nadar Ensemble music performance
Katrien Gaelens flute
Yves Goemaere percussion
Robin Goossens Geschäftsführerin / Managing Director
Wannes Gonnissen sound designer
Winnie Huang violin
Pieter Matthynnsens artistic director, cello
Elisa Medinilla keyboard
Thomas Moore trombone
Stefan Prins artistic director
Steven Reymer technical assistance
Bertel Schollaert saxophone
Dries Tack clarinet

Veerle Vervoort production
Co-production: Concertgebouw Brugge, DE SINGEL

With the support of Kunststiftung NRW

Commissioned by Concertgebouw Brugge & Nadar Ensemble, with the support of Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Nadar Ensemble is Artist in Residence at DE SINGEL Antwerp and is supported by the Flemish Government and the City of Sint-Niklaas.