‘De sfeer hield het midden tussen speels en ontregelend, tussen euforisch en intens, tussen kunst en camp, tussen subtiel en bombastisch. ‘Leaves’ gaf aan dat de operavorm zich leent tot méér dan Mozart of Puccini.’ 
(Focus Knack about ‘Leaves’)

Denmark’s Efterklang – a collective that has a close connection with AB – hates routine. So in ’14 they decided to put themselves on hold and to reinvent. The result? The band established an own radio station (‘The Lake’ or: according to them, ‘the anti-thesis of commercial radio’), a brand new band (Liima), and actually wrote an opera together with Danish composer Karsten Fundal.

It’s not the first time that Efterklang has ventured into the world of classical. We’re still impressed by their sold-out visit to AB in ’12, when the band worked with 20-member classical orchestra Sinfonia Rotterdam. But ‘Leaves’ goes a step further. Efterklang is augmented by eight musicians (including cello, harmonium, violin, ...) and four vocalists (including a soprano & a contra tenor) whereby the border between pop and classical eventually becomes obscured.

The première of ‘Leaves’ took place in ’15 in an abandoned bomb shelter in Copenhagen that dates from the Cold War. It is the tale of prisoners that are subjected to dreadful medical experiments in order to develop a means of making eternal life possible.

Efterklang will bring this opera to life at AB in an impressive concert version.

A few hours before they go on stage in AB, in a conversation with Focus Knack journalist Dirk Steenhaut, the band will come explain how the whole project came about. More info here.