QUEEN MAB TRIO

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone.˝
(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

In English literature Mab, the Celtic goddess of power,
was the fairy queen who initially invigorated Romeo;
subsequently she inspired others, most notably Ben
Jonson and Shelley, eventually bewitching composer
Héctor Berlioz (1803-69), the leading light of France’s
Romantic movement. Berlioz was certainly obsessed
with everything Shakespearean.

Berlioz’s Queen Mab Scherzo, written over 160 years
ago, serves as a structural starting point to the latest
project by the Queen Mab Trio, an ensemble which has
been performing together for a decade, and only issued
its debut album - See Saw (Wig 11 records) - this year.
The Canadian-Dutch radical feminist trio plays – in a
single word – radical-music. In fact all sorts of radical
music, new music, sometimes minimalist (from Erik
Satie to Louis Andriessen), while at the same time
they are very adept at improvisation in their creation of
artfully organised jazz. Ensembles like this are more the
exception than the rule. Taking inspiration from Héctor
Berlioz this year’s project entitled Thin Air transmutes
an old composition into a new era and on into the
unknown. Further to this, these consummate musicians -
whose education is classical but whose musical ambitions
are wide open - reinvestigate the chemistry of the trio,
affording sparkling possibilities in the process. Berlioz
provides an excellent starting point for anyone who is
interested in free music and the re-examination of
boundaries: accentuated rhythmic articulation, unusual
but nonetheless extremely rich melodies, the idée fixe,
spaced counterpoint textures, unique instrumentalisation...
Let me just remind you that by way of his
audacity, Berlioz expanded the concept of a symphonic
orchestra, turning it upside-down in the process. The
Queen Mab Trio, which shall play Berlioz, presents such
a direct and daring event in miniature. Indeed, you will
stare in surprise such unusual music.
Miha Zadnikar

Bass clarinet, clarinet: Lori Freedman
Viola: Ig Henneman
Piano: Marilyn Lerner

Organisation: Defonija, Klub Gromka, AKC Metelkova mesto
In collaboration with: City of Women
With the kind support of: Royal Netherlands Embassy, Ljubljana
Bilateral Focus: Netherlands & Slovenia