Chantal Akerman, Sonia Wieder-Atherton: Dialogues

Wed 5 Feb
An evening of music and cinema with renowned cellist Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

Sonia Wieder-Atherton is a renowned Franco-American cellist, who collaborated closely with Chantal Akerman as a musician, composer and music advisor while also featuring in some of her films. In this live concert, along with pianist Katia Weimann, Sonia will play a collection of her own compositions along with a selection of pieces from Tchaïkovsky, Schubert and Bach.

Following the performance, Akerman’s short film Blow Up my City (Saute ma ville) will play twice. The first projection will be played with the original audio/sound. The second will offer an alternative exploration and dialogue via solo accompaniment from Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

It’s a dialogue with Chantal that I wanted to imagine Chantal in Saute ma ville. I wanted to play with her, with her gestures, with her silences, with her burlesque and serious gestures. With her dances, with her anxieties. With her refrains. To follow her, surprise her, and surprise myself each time.

Sonia Wieder-Atherton

 

The performance and screening will be followed by a conversation with Sonia Wieder-Atherton 

Bookings

Ciné Lumière

Programme

Concert:

Sonia Wieder-Atherton, cello

Katia Weimann, piano

 

– Cycle of Jewish Liturgical Songs (Translated and arranged by S. Wieder-Atherton.)
– C. Akerman & S. Wieder-Atherton, Ritournelle
– S. Wieder-Atherton, New York Quartet.
– F. Schubert Arpeggione Sonata, D. 821 – I. Allegro Moderato.
– F. Schubert, Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen, D. 343.
– B. Tchaïkovsky, Solo Cello Suite in D Minor – III. Aria.
– J.S. Bach, Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor, BWV 1011 – I. Prelude and X. Other Movt.

 

Screening of Blow Up my City (Saute ma ville)

Dir. Chantal Akerman | BEL/1968 | with Chantal Akerman | 13mins

Made when the director was just eighteen, Chantal Akerman’s debut film Blow Up my City (Saute ma ville) is a blistering first expression of what would become one of her major themes: women’s confinement in and rebellion against the domestic sphere.

 

About Sonia Wieder-Atherton

Sonia Wieder-Atherton is a Franco-American cellist, renowned for her ability to transcend musical genres while bringing emotional depth to her interpretations.

Born in San Francisco of a mother of Romanian origin and an American father, she grew up in New York and then Paris, where she soon enrolled at the Conservatoire National Supérieur, studying with Maurice Gendron. At 19 she crossed the Iron Curtain to live in Moscow, where she studied with Natalia Shakhovskaya at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.

Sonia Wieder-Atherton has developed a close relationship with a wide range of contemporary composers (Betsy Jolas, Pascal Dusapin, Georges Aperghis, Francesco Filidei, Wolfgang Rihm, Edith Canat de Chizy). She has performed as a soloist under the guidance of numerous conductors, notably with the Paris Orchestra, the French National Orchestra, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Liège Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonia, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Luxembourg, the NDR Orchestra in Hanover, Les Siècles, Asko/ Schönberg… and regularly performs chamber music.

She has been the instigator of many projects that she designed and staged, including D’Est en musique, a show designed with footage from Chantal Akerman’s film D’Est; Night Dances, with Charlotte Rampling, confronting works by Benjamin Britten and Sylvia Plath; Marguerite Duras’ Navire Night with Fanny Ardant; Carnets de là-bas, created with Clément Cogitore. Winner of many awards, she was named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2020. Sonia Wieder-Atherton performed at the 2018 ceremonial reburial of Simone Veil in the Pantheon, Paris.

 

See Sonia Wieder Atherton give a pre-screening performance at BFI Southbank for Histoires d’Amérique on Tuesday 4 February.

Edinburgh