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BRINGING NEW MUSIC TO LIVE VI: PREMIÈRE OF THE PIECE SELKIE BY BRAIS GONZÁLEZ

On December 17th, we premiered the piece Selkie at the Torroso Auditorium, composed by the Galician composer Brais González (Vigo, 1987). Following the insightful interview we conducted with Brais before the tour, today we bring you a new blog article where we share all the details about the premiere and the future steps of the Selkie project.

Lítore Quartet and Brais González during a break in the rehearsals for the Selkie project.
Lítore Quartet and Brais González during a break in the rehearsals for the Selkie project.

Despite being a challenging date, so close to the Christmas holidays, over 100 people joined us on what was a very special day for us. The premiere of Selkie was not only a reaffirmation of our commitment to contemporary composers and modern music creation but also the overcoming of a massive professional challenge. Memorizing 40 minutes of music, 892 measures, stage movements, and spoken lines in just one month was no easy task. This project required countless hours of intense study, many bus or car trips listening to the MIDI, and daily technical headaches. And that’s not all: we weren’t able to hold our first full rehearsal until the afternoon of December 13th, leaving us just four days to assemble all the individual work.


Lítore Quartet during the premiere of Selkie by Brais González. Torroso Auditorium, 12/17/2024.
Lítore Quartet during the premiere of Selkie by Brais González. Torroso Auditorium, 12/17/2024.

The hectic countdown finally came to an end, and despite less-than-ideal logistical conditions, the premiere of Selkie sparked interest and even emotion among our audience. Both in Torroso and León, we were fortunate to have Brais’s support, as he managed the audio tracks and designed the venue’s lighting. The post-performance discussion was especially engaging, as we shared details about the piece and the journey to bring it to life. Thank you, Brais, for your dedication and effort. It has been a great pleasure to build such an artistically and humanly valuable project together.


Lítore Quartet and Brais González during the discussion held after the Selkie concert. Torroso Auditorium, 12/17/2024.
Lítore Quartet and Brais González during the discussion held after the Selkie concert. Torroso Auditorium, 12/17/2024.

One of the most enjoyable and fascinating aspects of this project was stepping into the roles of the four characters that bring the story of Selkie to life. The process of designing the costumes and props, as well as rehearsing the spoken lines, brought us closer to the theatrical world and its artistic possibilities. Here are the four characters from Selkie:


Sira as Ailsa, a selkie forced to live out of the water. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Sira as Ailsa, a selkie forced to live out of the water. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Miquel as Duncan, a sailor in search of a wife. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Miquel as Duncan, a sailor in search of a wife. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Hugo as Lachlan, a companion from Ailsa’s group of seals. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Hugo as Lachlan, a companion from Ailsa’s group of seals. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Jaime as Callum, a northern fulmar and friend of Lachlan. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.
Jaime as Callum, a northern fulmar and friend of Lachlan. El Albéitar Theater, León, 12/18/2024. Photography: Juan Luís García.

What’s next for Selkie?


Thanks to this tour, we’ve been able to identify the next steps to take Selkie to the next level. Specifically, we need to focus on technical aspects such as sound balance and voice amplification in future performances. We are confident that the journey of Selkie has just begun. The piece’s format and the values it conveys are undoubtedly suitable for audiences of all ages and adaptable to both musical and theatrical contexts. With Selkie, we have opened the door to new activities and artistic circles, such as educational concerts or drama and theater festivals.


We look forward to performing Selkie again soon and spreading its messages of freedom, emancipation, and equality to many other places.

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