Annamaria Kowalsky
Calamitas
Short instrumentation: 0 0 0 0 - 2 0 3 1, str
Duration: 8'
Choir: mixed choir
Instrumentation details:
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
tuba
violin I (12 players)
violin II (10 players)
viola (8 players)
violoncello (6 players)
double bass (4 players)
Calamitas
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
Calamitas was a commissioned piece that premiered in Cluj, Romania by the philharmonic orchestra and choir in February 2020. It already carried a lot of the pain and despair of what would follow due to Covid19, but is mainly based on the certainty that nature is beginning to rebel against humanity as a destructive race.
Meaning "loss" in Latin, it fluctuates between moods of hope, desperation and pain. It is a journey through emotional memories, a bittersweet reminiscence of something that is irretrievably lost and gone. As an expression of the emotionally multilayered complexity the voices used in Calamitas purposefully sing without words. This creates space for the listeners' own words and internal images.