Ensemble Hermes: An Eternity of Hope

Ensemble Hermes: An Eternity of Hope: Thursday 12 November 2026, 19:30–20:30, UngK, Aarhus. Tickets cost 40 kr.

The concert tells a story of smoldering conflicts, war and grief - but above all, that something is worth fighting for, that hope endures, and that light returns after the darkest times. Threads are drawn to tragedies of earlier eras, while we today must again confront a world that in many places is ablaze.

The music consists of selected excerpts, including Schubert's String Quintet in C major, Stravinsky's taut and almost mechanical Concerto for Strings, and Shostakovich's raw String Quartet No. 8. Central to the concert is also Richard Strauss' emotionally charged work Metamorphosen from 1945. Ensemble Hermes has arranged the music themselves and weaves it together with brief audio clips of the voices of war and a reading of Paul Celan's poem "Death Fugue", which can be heard as a poetic counterpart to Strauss' work. Together they form one long musical journey. The ensemble's seven musicians move around the space during the performance and use a few props that underscore the music's expression and the story it tells.

The title "An Eternity of Hope" is taken from Kaj Munk's poem about the blue anemone that breaks through the black earth and defies the resistance around it. The anemone became the symbol of Munk's own resistance to the German occupation - and of the people who throughout history, and also today, fight against the malevolent forces behind the world's conflicts. In the poem's final verse, the sight of the anemone's pure colour gives the narrator "an eternity of hope".

The concert is realized with support from the Augustinus Foundation.