echo collective
12 conversations with Thilo Heinzmann
programme
Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969-2018)
12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann
about
The Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson wrote music for such films as Sicario, Arrival (Dennis Villeneuve) and The Theory of Everything (James Marsh). The British philanthropist and art collector Richard Thomas was so fascinated by Jóhann Jóhannsson’s ability to break down the barriers between different art forms that he commissioned him to hold in-depth conversations with the Berlin-based painter Thilo Heinzmann over a four-year period. They discussed politics, art and their own lives.
Jóhann Jóhannsson then created a new composition for string quartet, based on these conversations and inspired by Thilo Heinzmann’s paintings, entitled 12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann. His untimely death soon afterwards meant that his was one of his last works. Brussels’ Echo Collective, one of whose founders had a close connection to Jóhann Jóhannsson, recorded the 12 Conversations with Thilo Heinzmann for the Deutsche Grammophon label, and now presents this haunting music in concert form.