65th Venice Biennale Music Festival: Choruses Program Unveiled

The 65th International Festival of Contemporary Music, titled Choruses – Vocal Dramaturgies, will take place from September 17 to 26, 2021, across historic venues in Venice. Under the new direction of composer Lucia Ronchetti, the festival focuses on the compositional treatment of the voice, from monumental choral works to recent vocal dramaturgies. Venues include the Arsenale, Basilica di San Marco, Teatro La Fenice, Teatro Malibran, Auditorium Lo Squero at Fondazione G. Cini, Conservatorio B. Marcello, and Teatro Parco Bissuola in Mestre. Highlights include spoken word performer Kae Tempest; post-minimalist composer David Lang; Golden Lions awarded to Kaija Saariaho and Neue Vocalsolisten; jazz singer Elina Duni; Arvo Pärt's Stabat Mater (1985); Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel; and Sylvano Bussotti's Per 24 voci adulte o bianche. A site-specific composition by sound artist Christina Kubisch, Il viaggio della voce, will be installed in the Cappella Marciana. A processional opera by Marta Gentilucci, Moving still – processional crossings, with texts by four poets, will traverse calli and campi. Biennale College programs will support young artists in voice-focused works.