HÄNDEL ON HANDS

“Händel on Hands” is a magical circus-musical-opera adventure that invites the whole family to experience the wonders of Georg Friedrich Händel’s music in an entirely new way. 

The ensemble of musicians, circus artists, and an opera singer embarks on a journey to discover the delicate art of balancing, coexisting, and collaborating. Together, they move through fire, water, air, and earth, exploring the contrasts and symbiotic interplay between the elements. These contrasts and interactions are mirrored in the meeting of art forms and individuals. How can we translate the role of air in fueling fire’s flames? Where is the line between water taming the fire and extinguishing it? How can the circus become a “resonance chamber” for the music, and vice versa? 

In Händel on Hands, the musicians perform all music from memory (a circus act in itself), freeing them to move, act, and perhaps even fly. The circus artists “play” their disciplines as if they were musical instruments, blending seamlessly into the score. The story unfolds without words but speaks directly from the heart, inviting the audience into a co-created universe where poetry and playfulness shape the harmony.

Händel on Hands is available for bookings from spring 2025. Please contact: asa.edgren@locoworld.se

Photo: Mats Bäcker och Tilde Björfors. Video: Johannes Ferm Vinkler

Director and Set design: Tilde Björfors
Music Direction: Mime Brinkmann, Thomas Volle
Costume: Isadora Jelly
Production assistant: Lova Freundendahl
Technique/Stagehand: Vincent Eklund
Stage consultant: Fefe Deijfen
Light consultant: Vincent Montán Eklund
Choréography consultant: Cilla Roos
Fundraiser Campaign leader: Maria Blom
Children player: Stina Holmberg
Photo: Mats Bäcker
Trailer: Thore Brinkmann
Head of Sales, Finance & Executive Producer: Åsa Edgren

CRED Co-producers and financial support:
Märta Christina och Magnus Vahlquists Stiftelse, Stadsteatern Parkteatern, Riksteatern, Orionteatern, Reginateatern, Stockholms Stads Kulturförvaltning, Take5 Music Production, Punkshangaren, Philippe Dormond Violinateljé, Sportbytarboden Enebyberg, DANSiSTAN/CIRKUSiSTAN, Desirée Holmqvist, children & families to everybody involved.

Händel on Hands is created by the collective "balans-resonans," an artist driven collective started on the initiative of cellist Mime  Yamahiro Brinkmann, who has long carried a dream to be able to move like a circus artist when she plays. Together with the tenor Thomas Voile and circus director Tilde Björfors and artist/clown Jan Unestam the four make up the artistic direction for the collective and invites various artists for Labb´s and workshops. With purpose  to experiment and playfully develop what can arise in the meeting between the art forms of opera, circus, music and visual arts.