Telegrams from the Nose combines French composer François Sarhan’s original music with Kentridge’s projections, including preparatory fragments for the opera The Nose. Telegrams presents a large canvas painted by Kentridge over which is projected amorphous human shadows, small black animated silhouettes in cut-out paper, geometric shapes evoking Russian constructivism. In phase with Kentridge’s images, the music scrolls through a series of hurried, scratched out, dislocated “Shostakovian vignettes”. Within the performance Sarhan reads texts by Nikolai Gogol, Russian author Daniil Kharms, Dmitrij Shostakovich as well as Nikolai Bukharin – who was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and loyal party member until he was executed on March 15, 1938, by order of Stalin – in 12 different music pieces.  Presented with the support of Institut Français.

Projections by William Kentridge  Music composed by François Sarhan Performed by François Sarhan (reader), Alexander Fokkens (conductor), Jill Richards (piano), Maren du Plessis (cello), Waldo Alexander (violin), Reza Khota (guitar)  Video operator jurgen meekel

Followed by the lectures of Professor Glacon # 4 : Le Serpent a Plumes  8, 9 & 10 September 2011 after Telegrams from the Nose In a presentation by Sarhan’s imaginary alter-ego, he continues his well-known series, The Lectures of Professor Glaçon. “History might not be what it is said to be, or at least one can suppose that the many episodes which happened, or were close to happening, are not reported,” explains Glaçon. “The same happens with music: many musical traditions, instruments and phenomena are unexpectedly hidden, ignored or carefully stolen from the attention of the innocent reader in the traditional music histories and encyclopedia, and as we could expect, they are forgotten also by today’s musicians THEMSELVES. Would it be because they never existed? Very unlikely.”        A music theatre show by François Sarhan  With François Sarhan (text, music, video, lecture) and Quatuor  BÉla (Julien Dieudegard – violin, Frédéric Aurier – violin, Julian Boutin – alto, Luc Dedreuil – cello)  Video operator jurgen meekel