Hands (2023)

Humankind’s evolutionary development takes a quantum leap when man arises from the ground. This enables the species to use its hands for new purposes and quickly leads to the creation of tools. Along with the motor development of the hands the human brain matures accordingly and results in the formation of refined systems, societies, cultures and expressions.

In Hands Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Opsahl investigates the balance and interdependency between body and mind; nature and culture, integration and disintegration of the two human aspects in a modern world increasingly ruled by the computerized, alienating, yet alleged ‘extended human mind’.

The work unfolds a unified analogue auditive and visual aesthetic that use and emphasize the natural musical movements of the soloist’s and the orchestra’s hands to shape a collective choreography reflecting upon the hands being core human medias for expression, for the shaping and development of the mind, communities and cultures. 

Hands o will call for us to remember the importance of analogue expression and communities deriving from the evolution of hands, bodily manifestation, craftsmanship and discipline as a counterpoint to the detaching and lonesome digitized reality of today