The Lovers

Commissed by the Esker Foundation, The Lovers is an audio piece for nine bells and nine voices, composed with Johannes Malfatti. The sound of church bells transforms into the sound of men and boys mimicking the ringing of bells. Their calls become words that slowly spell out a message of nationhood and forgetting: The homeland will forget the heroes, the heroes will forget the lovers, the lovers will forget the homeland.

The Lovers features the voices of Gunnar Brandt-Sigurdsson (tenor), Michael Berner (tenor), Arnout Lems (baritone) and members of the Calgary Boys' Choir. The mesh veils were designed and produced by visual composer Michiel Keuper. 


The first installation of The Lovers took place in a public park in Calgary, Canada, from sundown until midnight. The piece was broadcast from nine loudspeakers, some veiled, creating the effect of a sonic monument to forgotten bodies.


Aspects of the creation process of The Lovers, as well as an interview with Nemer is part of a short documentary video produced by Nuit Blanche Calgary.