Midwinter marks the deepest point of winter: the longest night and the shortest day of the year. In the quiet weeks after the festive season, accordionist Erica Roozendaal invites audiences to pause and reflect with her programme Midwinter. Through the expressive sound of the accordion, she evokes darkness and silence, vast landscapes and the mystique of the North. The concert takes place on Friday, 8 January, at Pakhûs SOLO in Stiens.
Roozendaal leads the audience into a world of quiet beauty, endless winter nights and landscapes that are both fragile and awe-inspiring. Fittingly, the programme features three Scandinavian composers, whose music reflects regions where midwinter remains an important and deeply felt tradition.
Saganat, by Svend Aaquist, is a tribute to Norway. Heroic gestures, dark sonorities and broad musical lines conjure images of snow-covered mountains, deep fjords and expansive winter skies, capturing the rugged beauty of the Nordic landscape.
Danish composer Bent Sørensen based Looking on Darkness on Shakespeare's Sonnet 27. The poem describes how physical exhaustion gives way to a restless night filled with memories and imagination. In the darkness, the person the poet longs for appears, making absence feel almost tangible.
In Arquitecturas del Silencio, Spanish composer José María Sánchez-Verdú explores the delicate boundary between sound and silence. At times, the music seems almost to disappear, inviting the listener to hear silence not as the absence of sound, but as a space in which every note gains meaning.
In Stil, Roozendaal sets Ida Vos's poem of the same name to music. The poem reflects on the silence the poet was forced to maintain while in hiding during the Second World War. Black Birds, by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, highlights the extraordinary range of colours the accordion can produce. This five-movement sonata is filled with birdsong and striking musical contrasts. The programme also includes Roozendaal's interpretation of MELOS, the signature work performed in a different version at every Pakhûs SOLO concert this season.
Erica Roozendaal is an accordionist and theatre maker. A natural storyteller, she places narrative, emotion and atmosphere at the heart of every performance. She completed both her bachelor's and master's degrees at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she now teaches in the Young Talent Department. Her artistic focus ranges from early music to contemporary and improvised repertoire. Through her close collaborations with composers, she has inspired dozens of new solo and chamber works. She is also the founder of Ensemble Roadrunner, a trio for accordion, clarinet and cello.
The concert lasts approximately one hour and is performed without an interval. Coffee or tea is served before the concert, followed by a complimentary drink afterwards.
Programme curator Beate Loonstra says:
"With extraordinary musicianship, imaginative improvisation and an exceptional ability to respond musically in the moment, Erica Roozendaal connects even the most challenging music to life's highest and lowest moments. With this programme, she creates a welcoming space for reflection during the quiet, dark weeks after the festive season. This celebration of silence and darkness truly deserves the spotlight."
