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NAC French Theatre
· 2018-2019 Season

BIG BANG Festival

Ages 6 to 12

https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/19035

Warning: Jazz rhythms ahead! It’s raining notes. The trumpet is laughing, the piano is crying. Three laid-back virtuosos mix music like dough. Their instruments spout all the colours of the great Miles Davis, while hypnotic videos draw you into the mix. You may even be invited to jump on stage to become a conductor or beatboxer. This is the third visit from our Belgian friends Zonzo, after Slumberland and Listen to the Silence. Don’t give them a hard time for forgetting (again!) to...

February 17 - 18, 2019

Azrieli Studio 1 Elgin Street Ottawa Canada

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Feb 17 - 18, 2019

Azrieli Studio

“Groove to the tunes of jazz legend Miles Davis, performed by three brilliant musicians. But, fair warning, you might get called on stage to participate! It’s a clever and interactive show like you’ve never experienced before.”

Français
≈ 50 minutes · No intermission

Warning: Jazz rhythms ahead!

It’s raining notes. The trumpet is laughing, the piano is crying. Three laid-back virtuosos mix music like dough. Their instruments spout all the colours of the great Miles Davis, while hypnotic videos draw you into the mix. You may even be invited to jump on stage to become a conductor or beatboxer.

This is the third visit from our Belgian friends Zonzo, after Slumberland and Listen to the Silence. Don’t give them a hard time for forgetting (again!) to pack boredom in their luggage!

This show is part of the Big Bang Festival, two days of fun musicolourful experiments for the whole family, big and small ears alike. At the NAC, Sunday, February 17 and Monday, February 18, 2019 (full program to discover here: https://nac-cna.ca/en/bigbang).

*Musical show without words

Only 160 seats available!

Press clipping excerpts

“It's a performance that really invites you to be a part of it, and also with no taboos or fear in experimenting. The interactions are so interesting that you know that you can't fail because everything that you might do is really adding something to the performance and you can't make anything wrong. And then you have this balance between the interactive parts and the performance parts that are really catching and allow you to enjoy the music and the musicians in two different ways.”
Rita Gracio – Concertos para bebés (Portugal)

“Regarding Mile(s)tones, what can I say ? I loved it so much ! I listen to a lot of jazz, maybe it´s what I love the most, but strangely I never was a big fan of Miles Davis. But even if I´m not a child I´ll surely listen to him in another way after seeing your show. It was amazing to see the kids’s reaction to all this complexity, you reached to create all these different kinds of atmospheres, happiness, anxiety, deep loneliness, and the kids where there with you in every second !”
Alessandra Costa – Projeto Guri - Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Learn more in the program notes ›

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Artists

Music Miles Davis

Music Miles Davis

Jazz up close and personal

If the trumpet could choose a nickname, it would certainly favour Miles Davis (1926–1991), the American musician who profoundly marked the history of the instrument. A pioneer of cool jazz and jazz fusion, Davis was also a great discoverer of talent, surrounding himself with the greatest musicians of his time, including John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock. To create the legendary score for Louis Malle’s film Elevator to the Gallows, Davis and his fellow musicians simply improvised for three hours as the images unfolded on the screen. The albums Milestones (1958), Kind of Blue (1959) and Bitches Brew (1970) are acknowledged as true masterpieces!

Le jazz en personne

Si la trompette pouvait se choisir un surnom, elle songerait assurément à Miles Davis tant le musicien américain né en 1926 et mort en 1991 a profondément marqué l’histoire de cet instrument. Pionnier du cool jazz et du jazz fusion, il a aussi été un grand découvreur de talents s’entourant des plus grands musiciens de son époque, dont John Coltrane et Herbie Hancock. Pour créer la légendaire musique du film de Louis Malle, Ascenseur pour l’échafaud, Miles et ses complices ont simplement improvisé pendant trois heures devant les images qui défilaient. Les albums Milestones (1958), Kind of Blue (1959) et Bitches Brew (1970) sont considérés comme de vrais chefs-d’œuvre !

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Artistic direction and stage design Wouter Van Looy

Artistic direction and stage design Wouter Van Looy

Ear awakener

Internationally renowned musical theatre and opera director, artistic director of theatre company Zonzo and the BIG BANG Festival, present in over a dozen European cities, the Belgian Wouter Van Looy has made a huge contribution to making music accessible to a wide and diverse audience. Why do musicians wear such formal outfits? Why are they traditionally so far from the audience? How can we approach the repertoire to make it more current and engaging? By asking questions like these, he has created unique stage experiences that shed a whole new light on such mega-composers as John Cage (Listen to the Silence), Miles Davis (Mile(s)tones) or Henry Purcell (Hush).

Dérideur d’oreilles

Metteur en scène de théâtre musical et d'opéra acclamé sur la scène internationale, directeur artistique de Zonzo Compagnie et du Festival BIG BANG, présent dans une quinzaine de villes européennes, le Belge Wouter Van Looy a amplement contribué à rendre la musique accessible à un large public. Pourquoi les musiciens ont-ils des tenues austères? Pourquoi sont-ils traditionnellement éloignés des spectateurs? Comment décoiffer le répertoire pour lui donner des allures plus vives et actuelles? C’est en se posant ces questions qu’il a façonné des objets scéniques singuliers qui donnent à voir et à entendre autrement des compositeurs-monuments comme John Cage (Listen to the Silence), Miles Davis (Mile(s)tones) ou Henry Purcell (Hush).

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Music Fulco Ottervanger

Music Fulco Ottervanger

Fulco Ottervanger is a one-man orchestra. As a child, he studied cello and taught himself to play piano, guitar, bass guitar and drums; he later studied jazz piano and classical composition at the Ghent Conservatory of Music in Belgium. A talented singer and composer, he is known for multi‑genre musical creations that run the gamut from experimental to popular. He has contributed to theatre, dance and spoken word projects. He is the frontman of the contemporary jazz trio De Beren Gieren and the band Stadt.

Fulco Ottervanger compose un groupe à lui tout seul. Enfant, il pratique d’abord le violoncelle, le piano, la guitare, la basse et la batterie. Il poursuit ensuite ses études en piano jazz, puis en composition classique au Conservatoire de musique de Gand, en Belgique. Chanteur et compositeur, Ottervanger s’engage dans des explorations musicales multigenres, couvrant tout le spectre, de l’expérimental au populaire. Il collabore à des projets de théâtre, de danse et de spoken word. Leader du trio de jazz contemporain De Beren Gieren, il est aussi membre du groupe Stadt.

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Trumpet and double bass Bert Bernaerts

Trumpet and double bass Bert Bernaerts

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Piano Seppe Gebreurs

Piano Seppe Gebreurs

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Drums Simon Segers

Drums Simon Segers

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With With Bert Bernaerts (trumpet and double bass), Seppe Gebreurs (piano) et Simon Segers (drums)
Video Johan Cosijns
Costumes Evelyn Demaertelaere
Technical Director and Stage Manager Pieter Nys
Set Construction Luc Cools
Produced by Zonzo Compagnie
Coproduced by De Beren vzw, Belém Cultural Center, De Werf Arts Centre, Rataplan Arts Centre and Jeunesses Musicales Flandre (Belgium)

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