onia Wieder-Atherton has imagined a performance backed by excerpts from "d'Est" (1993) a film by Chantal Akerman. Chantal Akerman did the scenography. "d'Est en musique" (Of the East in music) will be created in Metz (France) on May 12th 2005.

	Sonia Wieder-Atherton		Cello
	Laurent Cabasso		Piano
	Chantal Akerman		Scenography
Olivier Gluzman -" Les Visiteurs du Soir", Producer (33 1 44 93 02 02 – info@visiteursdusoir.com)
Running time : 1 hour without intermission
Selected pieces : Sonata for cello and piano, Sergeï RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Vocalise, Sergeï RACHMANINOV Adagio Opus 67, Sergeï PROKOFIEV (1891-1953) Sonate for cello and piano n°1, Alfred SCHNITTKE (1934-1998)
Creation : Mai 12th 2005 in Metz (France) Ultimate development of a workshop produced by the "Festival Temps d'images 2003" which took place from Septembre 22sd to 28th at the "Ferme du Buisson" in Torcy (France)

About this project

It is the unforgettable scenes from Chantal Akerman’s film "D’Est", scenes so indelibly imprinted in my mind that first gave me the desire to try this experiment. When watching an excerpt from the film, with the sound turned off, while the Rachmaninov Sonata (and later the Schnittke Sonata) reverberated around me, I suddenly saw the music transform the cars cruising along a snow-covered road into delicate ballerinas, then hover like a watchful parent over the children on their sleds. I saw the music cast a protecting cover over the women that gathered potatoes as they advanced across the field. But I also saw how the music could turn the nighttime glimpse of a building hidden behind the trees into a threat. All of this with neither explanation nor commentary. The movements were inextricable – image and music listening one to the other, looking at one other, meeting up with each other. It was unexplainably moving.

Sonia Wieder-Etherton.

A first scene – a first shock. Suddenly, a curtain of white-meshed gauze falls, all at once, in front of Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Laurent Cabasso. In one of Moscow’s grand hotels, the ball is under way. They are playing Prokofiev’s Adagio. It is disconcerting; I tell myself it works. Sonia had often talked to me about this project, I had not really understood. But then, at that moment, it became crystal clear. The diminutive silhouettes of the two musicians mingled with the figures that were dancing in the foreground, as if the film had never ever existed without them. As if the film, the dancers, the hotel were all of them waiting for Prokofiev who seemed to emerge from the depths of their imagination. I was enthralled. From that moment on, I wanted to continue the adventure with them. By no means would I let it go on without me. Chantal Akerman.

A gifted and insightful piano player Born in 1961, Laurent Cabasso studied at the "Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique" in Paris and won First Prizes in both Piano and Chamber Music. He went on winning major international piano competitions (Zurich, Tokyo..). Laurent Cabasso's career is now harmoniously balanced between recitals, concertos with orchestras, chamber music and teaching. Recitals in Paris, Zurich, Amsterdam, Genève, Salzburg; Festivals such as "la Roque d’Anthéron", "Piano aux Jacobins", Besançon, Montpellier Radio-France; concerts as soloist with orchestras such as Suisse Romande, Zurich, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique and Orchestre National de France; his collaboration with acclaimed conductors such as Ch.Dutoit, F.Leitner, A.Jordan, E.Krivine, M.Plasson, R.Zollman...; Chamber music with such partners as Sonia Wieder-Atherton, Raphaël Oleg, Gérard Caussé, Silvia Marcovici, Mireille Delunsch turn Laurent Cabasso into a major piano player in the musical world.