Last Album Release : Europa, Oslo – April 2017

Olivier  Benoit  brings  his  EUROPA  project  to  a  close  by  setting  a northerly course with his musicians that takes them to the capital of  Norway.  Oslo  is  an  atypical  city.  Nestling  in  the  heart  of triumphant  natural  surroundings,  it  has  constantly  pursued  its architectural  and  cultural  transformation,  somewhere  in  between ancient tradition and the incredibly modern. At the close of the last century,  this  city  was  already  setting  the  tone  for  new  artistic concepts.  To  accompany  the  capital  of  Norway  in  music  and establish  a  subjective  portrait  of  the  city,  first  an  immersion  was necessary.  Living  to  the  rhythm  of  Oslo’s  seasons  constituted  a vital  source  of  inspiration  that  provided  the  composition  with  its starting point.

Exploring  this  fourth  European  capital  gave  Olivier  Benoit  the desire to associate words and speech with the project, hence the two-voice  evocation  that  he  imagined  with  the  complicity  of contemporary Oslo writer and poet Hans Petter Blad. This singular author, a writer who chisels into the chiaroscuro of souls, selected excerpts  from  his  writings  forming  a  series  of  realist  poems  in which the music composed by the ONJ’s artistic director finds its echo. To incarnate Hans Petter’s texts — which the author himself has translated from Norwegian into English — Olivier Benoit chose Maria  Laura  Baccarini,  a  multifaceted  artist  who  is  a  singer  and actress.

As  an  orchestral  suite  whose  movements  offer  a  very  broad dynamic range — alternating moments of intimism and melancholy (the image of a hearing of confession), hypnotic atmospheres and powerful  crescendos  —  EUROPA  OSLO  plunges  us  with  rare intensity  into  the  very  heart  of  the  city  and  the  flesh  of  its inhabitants,  moving  between  wounds,  wanderings  and renaissances. The panoramic universe of Olivier Benoit continues to  draw  from  multiple  sources  —  jazz,  repetitive  music  and progressive  rock  —  and  they  provide  a  made-to-measure  setting for the elegiac pen of Hans Petter Blad. The outcome is a sensitive tribute to Oslo nourished by the expressive strengths of each of the orchestra’s  musicians  in  the  company  of  Maria  Laura  Baccarini, here an inhabited performer. An ultimate opus, magnetic and thrilling.